# X's pay-per-use API: what it means for scheduled posts in 2026

> Since February 2026 X charges apps for every post and read, and a post with a link costs about thirteen times a plain one. What that means for scheduling.

Published 19 October 2026 by Indably (https://indably.com/guides/x-api-pricing-for-scheduled-posts).

In February 2026 X moved its developer API to pay-per-use: apps buy credit and pay for each post they publish and each post they read. If your scheduling tool posts to X for you, X is now charging the tool for it. Prices below are from X's developer documentation, checked on 19 October 2026, in US dollars.

## What X charges apps

| Action | Price per item |
|---|---|
| Publishing a post | $0.015 |
| Publishing a post that contains a link | $0.20 |
| Reading a post (for example to fetch its numbers) | $0.005 |
| Reading a profile | $0.01 |

A post with a link costs about **thirteen times** a plain one. X introduced the link price in April 2026.

## What it means in practice

- **Thirty link posts a month** cost a tool about $6 in X fees for one account; thirty plain posts cost about $0.45.
- **Numbers aren't free either.** Fetching a post's views and likes five times over its first month is five reads, about $0.025 per post.
- **Detailed numbers only last 30 days.** Impressions, link clicks and profile clicks for your own posts are only available for posts made in the last 30 days.

## Other changes worth knowing

- **Replies are restricted.** On X's self-serve plans, an app may only reply to someone else's post if that person mentioned or quoted you first. Replying to your own post, which is how tools add a "first comment", is still allowed.
- **No more likes, follows or quote posts through self-serve access** since April 2026.
- **Exact repeats are refused.** X rejects a post whose text exactly matches one you've already made. If a tool retries after a timeout and gets this answer, the first attempt almost certainly went through.
- **Self-serve access is meant for "a limited number of end-users".** Tools serving many businesses may need X's Enterprise plan.

## What to ask your scheduling tool

1. Does it pass X's costs on, and how?
2. Does it warn you before a link post?
3. Does it count characters the way X does (every link counts as 23)?
4. What does it do when X doesn't answer? A retry after a timeout can mean a duplicate post, and the duplicate costs again.

Indably counts characters the way X does, adds your first comment as a reply to your own post, and never resends a post it can't account for.