Updated October 2026
X API Pro to pay-per-use: what the migration charges you
Legacy X API Pro plans move to pay-per-use at the end of each billing cycle after September 1, 2026. Monthly subscribers are charged a $5,000 initial credit, auto-recharge adds $5,000 when the balance falls below $250, and the default spend cap is $10,000 per billing cycle, all adjustable in the Developer Portal. Annual subscribers get their prorated balance as credits instead of a charge.
This page covers what the Pro cutover does to your card and the settings to change right after it. The Basic tier went through the same move earlier with smaller numbers, covered in the Basic migration guide. For every rate and how credits work in general, see X API pay-per-use explained.
What happens at your cutover date
It is automatic. X deprecated both monthly and annual Pro plans. Your Pro subscription ends on your cutover date, which is the end of your current billing cycle after September 1, 2026, and you are moved to pay-per-use with no action needed.
The switch lands at 00:00 UTC on your cycle day. X staff say it completes within a few minutes, and that apps, keys and projects stay as they are. Only billing changes, so no code or credential changes are needed.
Monthly and annual are treated differently. The table below is the whole difference.
| At cutover | Pro Monthly | Pro Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Card charge | $5,000 initial credit, via Stripe | None |
| Starting credit | $5,000 | Prorated remainder of the annual fee |
| Credit expiry | Not stated in the announcement | After the equivalent number of prorated months |
| Auto-recharge | On: $5,000 when balance falls below $250 | Prorated credits do not trigger it |
| Spend cap | $10,000 per billing cycle | $10,000 per billing cycle |
Switching early does not save the unused month
If you enroll in pay-per-use manually before your cutover, X staff say there is no automatic migration and no prorated conversion of credits. You keep Pro until the cutover alongside the new enrollment. A Pro month cannot be ended early.The rates your credit pays for
The rows a former Pro app most often hits, from X's pricing page. There are no fixed monthly fees on pay-per-use.
| Operation | Price |
|---|---|
| Create a post | $0.015 per request |
| Create a post with a URL | $0.200 per request |
| Read posts | $0.005 per resource |
| Read users | $0.010 per resource |
| Owned reads (your own data on qualifying endpoints) | $0.001 per resource |
| Post reads per billing cycle | Capped at 3 million, Enterprise above that |
The same resource requested again within one UTC day is charged once. Auto-recharge fires at most once per 5 minutes and pauses when the balance reaches zero.
Three worked bills under the default settings
A Pro Monthly account after cutover, with the $5,000 initial credit, $5,000 recharge under $250 and $10,000 spend cap left as they are.
| Workload | Monthly usage | Pay-per-use spend | What the card sees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Posting-only app | 30 plain posts and 10 link posts a day, no reads | 900 x $0.015 + 300 x $0.200 = $73.50 a month | The $5,000 initial credit is charged at cutover. At $73.50 a month it takes about 64 months of usage to bring the balance below $250, so auto-recharge does not fire. X has not stated whether this credit expires. |
| Read-heavy monitoring app | 1,000,000 post reads plus 3,000 plain posts a month | 1,000,000 x $0.005 + 3,000 x $0.015 = $5,045 a month | Cycle one: $5,000 initial charge, then one $5,000 recharge once spend passes $4,750. You are charged $10,000 in the first cycle and carry about $4,955 into the next. |
| Search at scale | 2,500,000 post reads a month | 2,500,000 x $0.005 = $12,500 a month | Above the $10,000 default spend cap. Requests are blocked once cycle spend reaches the cap, at roughly 2,000,000 billed post reads. Raising the cap works up to the 3 million post read limit; past that X points you to Enterprise. |
The defaults are sized for heavy readers
A $5,000 recharge and a $10,000 cap make sense for an app reading a million posts a month. For an app that mostly posts, they mean a large prepaid balance and a ceiling far above anything you meant to spend. Resize both.Model your own volume with the X API cost calculator.
Five settings to change on day one
- Lower the spend cap. The default is $10,000 per billing cycle. When spend reaches the cap, requests are blocked, so set it to the most you are willing to spend, not the most X allows.
- Resize auto-recharge. Both the trigger threshold and the recharge amount are configurable. A $5,000 top-up under a $250 balance suits a read-heavy app. A posting app can use a much smaller amount.
- Count your link posts. A post with a URL bills $0.200 against $0.015 for a plain post. Ten link posts a day is $60 a month on its own.
- Audit your reads. Post reads bill $0.005 per post returned and user reads $0.010. Owned reads of your own data on qualifying endpoints bill $0.001, and repeat reads of the same resource in one UTC day are charged once, so caching and owned endpoints cut the bill directly.
- Check billing right after cutover. X staff list two failure modes: 402 "insufficient credits" and 403 "client-not-enrolled". Confirm your balance and auto-recharge status on the Billing page once the switch lands.
If you only used Pro to post
Some Pro subscribers paid for the tier to get posting volume, not reads. If that is you, a flat plan removes the balance, the recharge and the developer account entirely. OpenTweet Advanced ($29/mo) covers 100 posts a day including 10 with links across up to 3 X accounts. Agency ($49/mo) covers 300 posts a day including 20 with links across up to 10 X accounts. Pro ($11.99/mo) includes 0 link posts, so links are removed unless you buy link credits. You post through REST (POST /api/v1/posts) or the hosted MCP server with 43 tools.
If your app reads, OpenTweet is not a replacement. OpenTweet is not a read API. Its API includes a capped daily inspiration search, but no timeline, follower or high-volume post reads. If reads were the reason you paid for Pro, stay on pay-per-use, resize the settings above, and look at Enterprise if you need more than 3 million post reads a month.
# A flat plan: no credit balance, no auto-recharge, no developer account.
# Link posts included on Advanced (10/day) and Agency (20/day).
curl -X POST https://opentweet.io/api/v1/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ot_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"text": "Release notes are live: https://example.com/changelog",
"scheduled_date": "2026-10-15T15:00:00Z"
}'Plan details on the pricing page, endpoint reference in the developer docs, and the trade-offs in OpenTweet vs the X API.
7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Frequently asked questions
Is the X API Pro plan gone?
Yes. X deprecated its legacy Pro plans, both monthly and annual, and moves every Pro subscriber to pay-per-use automatically. The switch happens at the end of each subscriber's billing cycle after September 1, 2026. Pay-per-use is now the self-serve plan, and X points apps that need more than 3 million post reads a month to Enterprise.
Why did X charge me $5,000 after my Pro plan ended?
That is the initial pay-per-use credit for Pro Monthly subscribers. At cutover X charges a $5,000 credit purchase to your card via Stripe, and requests are then deducted from that balance. X staff have clarified it is a new credit purchase, not a transfer of leftover Pro fees.
What happens to my X API Pro annual subscription?
The remaining prorated value of your annual fee is granted as pay-per-use credits, with no extra card charge at cutover. Those credits expire after the equivalent number of prorated months, and they do not trigger auto-recharge.
What are the default settings after the Pro migration?
Auto-recharge is enabled at $5,000 and fires when your credit balance falls below $250. The spend cap is $10,000 per billing cycle. Both can be viewed and changed at any time in the Developer Portal.
Can I switch from Pro to pay-per-use early to avoid the $5,000 charge?
You can enroll in pay-per-use manually, but X staff say that in that case there is no automatic migration and no prorated conversion of credits. You keep your Pro plan until its cutover alongside the new pay-per-use enrollment. Pro months cannot be ended early.
Do my API keys or apps change at cutover?
No. X says apps, keys and projects stay as they are and only the billing model changes. The failure modes are billing-side: a 402 "insufficient credits" or a 403 "client-not-enrolled" response.
Can a flat-fee tool replace X API Pro?
Only if you mostly post. OpenTweet Advanced ($29/mo) includes 10 link posts a day and Agency ($49/mo) includes 20, with no credit balance. If your app reads X at volume, such as monitoring, timelines or follower data, OpenTweet cannot replace it. Its API includes a capped daily inspiration search, not bulk reads.
Sources: X Developer Platform Pro migration announcement, X API pricing docs, X staff answers on cutover timing.
Related guides
Rates, calculators, and the rest of the 2026 X API changes.
Basic to pay-per-use
The earlier Basic migration and its $200 auto-recharge.
X API pay-per-use explained
Every rate, how credits work, and worked monthly costs.
X API cost calculator
Model your exact posting and reading volume at current rates.
X Activity API webhooks
Event types, scopes, and costs.
Cheapest way to post via code
Flat fee vs pay-per-use, with the crossover point shown.
OpenTweet vs the X API
What each one does better, feature by feature.
Posting only? Skip the $5,000 balance
Flat monthly fee, no auto-recharge, no developer account. Advanced ($29/mo) includes 10 link posts a day. Post and schedule through REST or a hosted MCP server.
7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.