Sorsa API vs the official X API

Q: Do I need an X developer account to use Sorsa API?

No. Sorsa API needs one API key in the ApiKey header: no developer account, app, use-case description or OAuth. You sign up, copy the key and can send your first request in about three minutes. Sorsa API never asks for your X login or cookies, so your X account takes no part in any request.

Choose Sorsa API over the official X API to read Twitter/X data: tweets cost from $0.014 per 1,000 instead of $5.00, one API key replaces the developer account, and no 3M monthly cap applies.

Sorsa API

$0.014per 1,000 tweets

$0.007per 1,000 followers

Nonemonthly read cap

The official X API

$5.00per 1,000 tweets

$10.00per 1,000 followers

3M postsmonthly read cap

Short answer: The official X API bills each object it returns, $5.00 per 1,000 posts and $10.00 per 1,000 users, and from November 22, 2026 it bills each post's author too. Its pay-per-use plan stops at 3M post reads a month. For reading X data, Sorsa API is the better choice: 100 tweets per request with their authors, from $0.014 per 1,000, and 100 free requests that never expire.

By the Sorsa API team
Updated Nov 3, 2026
14 min read
Published by the Sorsa API team. The official X API's figures come from its own pages, linked below.

#Why teams read X data with Sorsa API instead of the official X API

250x cheaper on tweets.
POST /tweet-info-bulk returns 100 tweets per request with their authors, from $0.014 per 1,000, while the official X API bills $5.00 per 1,000 posts.
1,000x cheaper on followers.
GET /followers returns 200 followers per page, from $0.007 per 1,000, against $10.00 per 1,000 followers on the official X API.
The author is part of the tweet.
From November 22, 2026, the official X API bills each author it returns at $0.010. Search results with authors then cost up to $15.00 per 1,000 there, and from $0.07 on Sorsa API: up to 150x less.
One key instead of a developer account.
Sorsa API needs one ApiKey header, and the first request takes about 3 minutes. The official X API needs a developer account opened with your X account, an app with a stated use case, and a Bearer token or OAuth.
No monthly cap.
The official X API's pay-per-use plan stops at 3M post reads per billing cycle; past that, X sells Enterprise contracts at $42K+ a month. Sorsa API has no read cap.
20 requests per second on every plan.
One limit covers every endpoint, free accounts included. The official X API counts each endpoint in its own window, such as 450 recent searches per app every 15 minutes.
A free start with no deadline.
Sorsa API gives every new account 100 free requests, with no card, that never expire: up to 10K tweets. The official X API has no free tier.

#Four read jobs, two bills each

Rehydrate 1M tweet IDs

Turn the tweet IDs of a shared research dataset into full tweets with their authors.

Sorsa API

Total: from $14

100 tweets per request, authors included
About 8 minutes at 20 requests per second

Needs your X loginno

The official X API

Total: up to $15,000

1M posts at $0.005$5,000
1M authors at $0.010, from Nov 22, 2026up to $10,000
Lookups per app every 15 minutes3,500

Needs your X loginyes, for the developer account

Export 1M followers

Download the whole follower list of a brand account, every profile in full.

Sorsa API

Total: from $7

200 followers per page
About 4 minutes at 20 requests per second

Needs your X loginno

The official X API

Total: $10,000

1M followers at $0.010$10,000

Needs your X loginyes, for the developer account

Collect 5M posts by search, back to 2010

Build a research dataset of every post that matches a query since 2010, each with its author.

Sorsa API

Total: from $350

About 20 posts per page, each with its author
Search back to 2006 on every plan
About 3.5 hours at 20 requests per second

Needs your X loginno

The official X API

Total: $42K+ a month

The first 3M posts at $0.005$15,000
Their authors at $0.010, from Nov 22, 2026up to $30,000
The other 2M postsEnterprise contract only

Needs your X loginyes, for the developer account

Refresh 100K profiles every week

Keep follower counts, bios and verification current for a lead or creator list.

Sorsa API

Total: from $5.60 a month

100 profiles per request
One weekly runfrom $1.40
Under a minute a run at 20 requests per second

Needs your X loginno

The official X API

Total: $4,000 a month

100K users at $0.010$1,000 a run
Four runs a month$4,000

Needs your X loginyes, for the developer account

#The ten checks, scored for both APIs

These are the ten checks a buyer can run before paying for X data. The first eight come from how to choose a Twitter API, and the last two are about running in production.

Sorsa API passes all ten checks; the official X API passes one.

Check	Sorsa API10 of 10	The official X API1 of 10
Price per 1,000 results	From $0.014 per 1,000 tweets, author included	$5.00 per 1,000 posts; authors $0.010 each from Nov 22
Batch lookups billed as one call	100 tweets or profiles per request, 200 followers per page	Up to 100 posts per call, every post billed
Rate limit on the first plan	20 requests per second on every plan	Per endpoint, mostly per 15 minutes
A free test with no deadline	100 free requests that never expire	No free tier
What it needs from your X account	Nothing: it never asks for your X login or cookies	A developer account opened with your X account
Track record and a stable schema	In production since 2022, a stable response schema	X Corp's own API since 2006
An endpoint for every step	One-call follow, retweet, quote and reply checks	No check endpoints; no endpoint that reads an Article
A predictable bill	A fixed monthly price; failed requests never charged	Prepaid credits drawn per object; prices subject to change
A guarantee in the terms	99.9% uptime on every paid plan; a price lock	Provided as is, with no uptime commitment
A contract for serious volume	An SLA we sign, from the Platform plan up	Enterprise only, at $42K+ a month

#How the official X API bills a read

The official X API is a prepaid meter. You buy credits in X's Developer Console, and each response draws them down by the objects it returns, not by the calls you make. X's pay-per-use pricing page (opens in a new tab) sets $0.005 for a post and $0.010 for a user or a follower. So 1,000 posts cost $5.00 whether they arrive in ten calls or a thousand.

From November 22, 2026, X adds the objects it attaches through expansions to the bill: $0.010 for each author, $0.005 for each media item, quoted post, poll or place. A tweet that comes back with its author, a quoted post and an image can cost up to $0.025, which is $25.00 per 1,000. What expansions are, and what each one now costs, is explained in Twitter API expansions.

The official X API bills each part of a tweet you ask for. Sorsa API returns the whole tweet as one object at one price.

Sorsa API meters requests instead. One call to any endpoint is one request, and a request that returns 100 tweets carries each author's full profile in user, a quoted tweet in quoted_status and media links in entities. Every request carries up to 100 tweets or profiles, or 200 followers, at the price of a single lookup. So the same 1,000 tweets cost from $0.014, whichever fields you read.

Every line of X's rate card, and each price change since 2023, is in our breakdown of X API pricing. To price your own mix of tweets, followers and profiles on both APIs, the free Twitter API Cost Calculator adds it up.

#What happens past 3M posts a month

The official X API's pay-per-use plan stops at 3M post reads per monthly billing cycle, which is $15,000 of posts at list price. X's own Developer Agreement scopes the plan the same way. Pay-per-use is meant for hobbyists, prototypes, early-stage integrations and apps with a limited number of end-users; beyond that, the agreement requires an Enterprise plan. Enterprise contracts are quoted per customer, at $42K+ a month, as Twitter Enterprise API pricing details.

The official X API's meter stops at 3M posts a month. Sorsa API keeps the same rate past it, from $140 for 10M tweets.

Sorsa API has no read cap. Its plans run from 10K to 10M requests a month, the rate per request falls on every larger plan, and 10M tweets by ID cost from $140. For volumes past the largest plan, custom terms or invoices, talk to sales.

#Built for production, with the terms to prove it

Sorsa API has run in production since 2022, first as TweetScout API, and puts its promises into its Terms of Service. Its 99.9% uptime is guaranteed in the terms on every paid plan: if uptime in a month ever drops below 99.5%, Sorsa API adds bonus requests equal to 10% of your monthly requests. While your subscription stays active, your price never goes up.

The rest of what a production team asks for is on the plans, in writing. Failed requests are never charged, and the response schema stays stable, so code you write today keeps working. Sorsa API's own Enterprise plan adds priority support, Business a dedicated account manager, and Hyperscale dedicated infrastructure; from 1M requests a month, Sorsa API signs an SLA with you. How uptime is measured and data is protected is on the uptime and security page.

The official X API's Developer Agreement provides the API "as is", with all faults, and limits X's liability to $50. Support for pay-per-use is the community forum, and a named account manager comes with Enterprise only.

#The official X API's fine print, next to ours

X's own words, each with the date we read it and a capture of the page.

Price changes
The official X API
“Prices are subject to change.”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_x_api_getting_started_pricing
Sorsa API
While your subscription stays active, the price of your plan does not go up (Terms 8.10).
Authors billed from November 22
The official X API
“From November 22nd, objects returned through expansions will be billed at the standard PPU rate for that resource”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on devcommunity.x.com/t/inform-x-api-ppu-expansions-update/279110 (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/devcommunity_x_com_t_inform_x_api_ppu_expansions_update_279110
Sorsa API
Every tweet carries its author's full profile at no extra charge.
Monthly cap
The official X API
“Pay-per-usage plans are capped at 3 million Post reads per monthly billing cycle”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_x_api_getting_started_pricing
Sorsa API
No read cap: plans run from 10K to 10M requests a month, and talk to sales goes past that.
Who pay-per-use is for
The official X API
“is designed for hobbyists, commercial prototyping, initial development”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/developer-terms/agreement (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_developer_terms_agreement
Sorsa API
Every plan is built for production, from 10K to 10M requests a month, with an SLA we sign from 1M.
App and use case
The official X API
“Provide a name, description, and use case for your app.”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/getting-access (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_x_api_getting_started_getting_access
Sorsa API
Sign up and copy one API key: there is no app to register and no use case to describe.
Uptime
The official X API
“WITH ALL FAULTS, AND X DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/developer-terms/agreement (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_developer_terms_agreement
Sorsa API
99.9% uptime, guaranteed on every paid plan (Terms 7.1).
Liability
The official X API
“WILL NOT EXCEED FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00)”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/developer-terms/agreement (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_developer_terms_agreement
Sorsa API
Up to the fees you paid in the last three months, and never less than $100 (Terms 15.2).
Support on self-serve
The official X API
“Community forum”
Full capture
Seen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.x.com/enterprise-api/getting-started/pricing (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_x_com_enterprise_api_getting_started_pricing
Sorsa API
The team answers tickets in the dashboard and email on every plan; priority support on the Enterprise plan, an account manager from Business.

#What your API key can do

The worst an agent can do with a Sorsa API key is read a public post.

Sorsa API key

Reads public tweets, profiles, followers, Lists, Spaces and X Articles
Cannot post, reply, like, follow, send DMs, delete or publish anything
Never asks for your X login or cookies, so no request runs through your X account

Official X API credentials

The developer account is opened by signing in with your X account
With OAuth user context, an app acts as the signed-in account: it can post, reply, send DMs and manage bookmarks
The X MCP's full route runs "all with your own X account's permissions", and its tools "Create draft Articles and publish them"

Source: docs.x.com/tools/mcp (opens in a new tab)

#Sorsa MCP and the X MCP, side by side

Sorsa MCP gives an AI agent 40 read-only tools over Sorsa API with one key: npx -y sorsa-mcp with SORSA_API_KEY set, in Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code or Windsurf. It is on npm and in the official MCP Registry, and the agent skill sorsa-x-api-skill covers Claude Code, Cursor and Codex CLI.

The X MCP, hosted by X at api.x.com/mcp, starts from your own developer app either way. X's MCP documentation (opens in a new tab) gives two routes. The app's Bearer token covers read-only calls. The full set of tools takes OAuth 2.0, a registered redirect URI, a client ID and secret, and a one-time login in the browser. On that route the agent works with your account's scopes, and its tools can publish Articles and change bookmarks. Every call is an official X API call, billed per object.

For an agent that reads, Sorsa MCP leads in three ways:

It can't write, whatever the setup. No tool posts, publishes or touches an X account, so a confused agent can only read.
It costs per call, not per post. A search that returns 20 tweets with their authors costs from $0.0014 on Sorsa MCP. The same 20 posts cost $0.10 on the official X API, and up to $0.30 with their authors from November 22, 2026.
It starts with a key. No app, redirect URI or browser login: set one environment variable and the tools appear.

Setup for each client is on the Twitter MCP server page.

#Endpoints the official X API doesn't have

Sorsa API answers several read questions in one call that the official X API answers with a long, billed workaround or not at all. The live API reference lists 45 endpoints. These have no counterpart in X API v2, checked against X's own index on November 3, 2026:

POST /check-follow: does one account follow another. On the official X API the same answer means reading the whole follower list at $0.010 per follower. On Sorsa API a check costs from $0.0014.
POST /check-retweet, POST /check-quoted and GET /check-comment: did an account retweet, quote or reply to a post.
GET /about: the "About this account" data: the country, how many times the username changed and when it last did.
GET /verified-followers: only the verified followers of an account.
POST /article: the full text of an X Article with its cover, metrics and author. X's Articles API creates and publishes drafts and has no endpoint that reads one.
GET /check-shadowban: whether an account's posts are limited in search.

Timelines go further too: POST /user-tweets keeps paging past the newest 3,200 posts, where X's user timeline stops. Each endpoint and its fields are in Sorsa API endpoints.

#Move your reads off the official X API

Moving reads takes three changes: the base URL, one header in place of the bearer token or OAuth, and the field names you parse. Posting code stays on the official X API. Our Twitter API without a developer account guide walks through the key itself.

Endpoints

Official X API v2	Sorsa API	One request returns
`GET /2/tweets/search/recent` and `/search/all`	`POST /search-tweets`	about 20 tweets, back to 2006
`GET /2/tweets` (by IDs)	`POST /tweet-info-bulk`	up to 100 tweets
`GET /2/users/:id/tweets`	`POST /user-tweets`	about 20 tweets
`GET /2/users/:id/mentions`	`POST /mentions`	about 20 tweets
`GET /2/users` and `GET /2/users/by`	`GET /info-batch`	up to 100 profiles
`GET /2/users/:id/followers`	`GET /followers`	up to 200 followers
`GET /2/users/:id/following`	`GET /follows`	up to 200 accounts
`GET /2/tweets/:id/quote_tweets`	`POST /quotes`	about 20 tweets
`GET /2/tweets/:id/retweeted_by`	`POST /retweeters`	a page of profiles
`GET /2/lists/:id/tweets`	`GET /list-tweets`	about 20 tweets
`GET /2/spaces/:id`	`GET /spaces`	1 Space
`GET /2/trends/by/woeid/:woeid`	`GET /trends`	1 location's trends
`GET /2/usage/tweets`	`GET /key-usage-info`	your balance, free of charge

Fields

Official X API v2	Sorsa API
`data[]`	`tweets[]`, or `users[]` for lists of accounts
`text`	`full_text`
`author_id` with `includes.users[]`	`user`, the full profile inside the tweet
`public_metrics.like_count`	`likes_count`
`public_metrics.impression_count`	`view_count`
`meta.next_token`	`next_cursor`

The same search on Sorsa API

Terminal

curl -X POST "https://api.sorsa.io/v3/search-tweets" \
  -H "ApiKey: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "from:harbor_data_desk", "order": "latest"}'

Each tweet in the response carries its author in user, so the join between data and includes disappears; page on with next_cursor until it comes back empty. A 429 means more than 20 requests in one second, and a 403 means the key is missing or its requests are used up.

The docs Quickstart (opens in a new tab) walks you to your first request. The complete endpoint map, Tweepy code before and after, and a shadow-run plan are in the guide to migrate from the Twitter/X API. Every official window is listed in X API rate limits.

#Read the same data for a fraction of the bill

Move your reads to Sorsa API and keep the official X API for posting. Tweets cost from $0.014 per 1,000 instead of $5.00, and followers from $0.007 instead of $10.00. No monthly cap or developer account stands between you and the data. Run your own job on 100 free requests and compare the bill. Head-to-heads with other providers are on the Twitter API comparison page.

#FAQ

Is Sorsa API better than the official X API?

Yes, for reading Twitter/X data. Sorsa API returns 100 tweets per request with their authors from $0.014 per 1,000, against $5.00 per 1,000 posts on the official X API, and followers from $0.007 against $10.00. It needs one API key instead of a developer account and OAuth, runs 20 requests per second on every plan and has no 3M monthly cap. To post, pair it with the official X API.

Does the official X API have a free tier?

No. The official X API has no free tier: every read draws on prepaid credits, from $0.005 per post. Sorsa API gives every new account 100 free requests with no card, and they never expire. Through the batch endpoints that is up to 10K tweets or 20K profiles, and the free requests work on all 45 endpoints.

Do I need an X developer account to use Sorsa API?

No. Sorsa API needs one API key in the ApiKey header: no developer account, app, use-case description or OAuth. You sign up, copy the key and can send your first request in about three minutes. Sorsa API never asks for your X login or cookies, so your X account takes no part in any request.

What happens after 3M posts a month on the official X API?

Pay-per-use stops. The official X API caps pay-per-use at 3M post reads per monthly billing cycle, and past that X sells only Enterprise contracts, at $42K+ a month. Sorsa API has no read cap: 10M tweets by ID cost from $140, and the plans run from 10K to 10M requests a month, with custom terms past that.

Does Sorsa API charge extra for the author of each tweet?

No. Every Sorsa API tweet carries its author's full profile in the user field at no extra charge. From November 22, 2026, the official X API bills each author it returns through expansions at $0.010, on top of $0.005 for the post. Search results with authors then cost up to $15.00 per 1,000 there, against from $0.07 on Sorsa API.

Can I read with Sorsa API and post with the official X API?

Yes. Sorsa API is read-only by design: it never posts, likes, follows or sends DMs, so it never puts your X account at risk. Keep your official X API app for posting and move the reads, usually most of the bill, to Sorsa API, where tweets cost from $0.014 per 1,000 and followers from $0.007.

Is Sorsa API reliable enough for production?

Yes. Sorsa API has run in production since 2022, first as TweetScout API. Its Terms of Service guarantee 99.9% uptime on every paid plan, and its price never goes up while you stay subscribed. From 1M requests a month it signs an SLA with you. The official X API's Developer Agreement provides the API "as is", with all faults, and no uptime commitment.

#How we checked

On November 3, 2026 we read the official X API's pricing, rate-limit, access, search, timeline, Articles, MCP and Enterprise pages on docs.x.com. We also read its Developer Agreement (last updated April 27, 2026), its Developer Policy and X's forum notice of October 23 on expansions billing, and saved each page with screenshots and hashes. Sorsa API's endpoints come from its live API reference that day, and its prices from its current plans. The job prices use each API's list price; we ran no paid requests for this page.

#Sources

Disclaimers

X and the X logo are trademarks of X Corp. Sorsa API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by X Corp.

Published by the Sorsa API team. The official X API's figures come from X's own pages, linked above, as seen on November 3, 2026.

By the Sorsa API team. We build and run Sorsa API, the read-only Twitter/X API and scraper, in production since 2022 (formerly TweetScout API) with 6B+ requests served. About Sorsa API

More comparisons

All comparisons

Sorsa API vs the official X API

Choose Sorsa API over the official X API to read Twitter/X data: tweets cost from $0.014 per 1,000 instead of $5.00, one API key replaces the developer account, and no 3M monthly cap applies.

Sorsa API

$0.014per 1,000 tweets

$0.007per 1,000 followers

Nonemonthly read cap

The official X API

$5.00per 1,000 tweets

$10.00per 1,000 followers

3M postsmonthly read cap

By the Sorsa API team

Updated Nov 3, 2026, 14 min read

Published by the Sorsa API team. The official X API's figures come from its own pages, linked below.

Why teams read X data with Sorsa API instead of the official X API

250x cheaper on tweets.
POST /tweet-info-bulk returns 100 tweets per request with their authors, from $0.014 per 1,000, while the official X API bills $5.00 per 1,000 posts.
1,000x cheaper on followers.
GET /followers returns 200 followers per page, from $0.007 per 1,000, against $10.00 per 1,000 followers on the official X API.
The author is part of the tweet.
From November 22, 2026, the official X API bills each author it returns at $0.010. Search results with authors then cost up to $15.00 per 1,000 there, and from $0.07 on Sorsa API: up to 150x less.
One key instead of a developer account.
Sorsa API needs one ApiKey header, and the first request takes about 3 minutes. The official X API needs a developer account opened with your X account, an app with a stated use case, and a Bearer token or OAuth.
No monthly cap.
The official X API's pay-per-use plan stops at 3M post reads per billing cycle; past that, X sells Enterprise contracts at $42K+ a month. Sorsa API has no read cap.
20 requests per second on every plan.
One limit covers every endpoint, free accounts included. The official X API counts each endpoint in its own window, such as 450 recent searches per app every 15 minutes.
A free start with no deadline.
Sorsa API gives every new account 100 free requests, with no card, that never expire: up to 10K tweets. The official X API has no free tier.