The cheap, fast way to read public X data without an X developer account, billed per result returned, but it is an unofficial third-party service, so access depends on X tolerating it and the posting endpoints put your own X account at risk.
What it is
TwitterAPI.io is an independent REST API (and a hosted MCP server for AI agents) for X/Twitter data: tweet search, user timelines, profiles, followers and following, replies, quotes, retweeters, lists, communities and trends, plus webhook and WebSocket streams that filter tweets in near real time. It is not affiliated with X Corp and needs no X developer account or approval; you authenticate with its own API key. Billing is per result returned, in credits at a flat $1 = 100,000 credits: tweets $0.15 per 1,000, user profiles $0.18 per 1,000, full follower profiles from $0.01 per 1,000 and follower IDs from $0.0045 per 1,000, with a minimum of $0.00015 per request even when nothing comes back. Recharged credits never expire; subscriptions add bonus credits (Business brings the per-request floor to about $0.00008). New accounts get up to $1 of free credit, valid 31 days. Default limit 20 requests per second, up to 1,000 on request; its docs cite about 700 ms average response time. Posting, liking and retweeting endpoints work by logging in to your own X account with its password and 2FA secret and reusing the session cookies (10,000 credits per login, $0.0006 per action). Checked on twitterapi.io and docs.twitterapi.io November 14, 2026.
Best for
- Developers and researchers pulling public tweets, profiles or follower graphs at volume
- AI agents that need live X data through MCP
- Social listening and account monitoring on a small budget
What we like
- Far cheaper than X's official paid API tiers for read access: $0.15 per 1,000 tweets
- No X developer account, approval or monthly minimum; pay as you go from a $1 free credit
- Broad read coverage (75 endpoints) plus filtered real-time streams and a hosted MCP server
- High throughput: 20 requests per second by default, up to 1,000 on request
What to watch
- Unofficial: it is not an X Corp product, so collecting data this way may conflict with X's terms, and X can break or block access at any time
- Posting and engagement endpoints require handing your X password and 2FA secret to a third party, and automated actions risk suspension of that account
- Not a fit where compliance needs a licensed data source (regulated industries, some enterprise and academic reviews)
- Minimum charge per request, including empty searches, adds up for polling-heavy monitors
- Bonus and free credits expire after 31 days
Where TwitterAPI.io ranks
Alternatives and head-to-heads
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