Twitter Announced a new API level today called Twitter API Pro for startups that costs $5,000 per month. The tier gives developers the ability to get 1 million tweets per month, post 300,000 tweets per month, and access the full archive search endpoint.
The Elon Musk-led company announced the new pricing levels in March. Earlier this year, Twitter announced that it will close access to its free API level. However, it backed away from that decision somewhat by offering 1,500 tweets per month free access for content provider bots.
The new tier falls between the entry level of $100 per month and the enterprise level of $42,000 per month. Twitter calls this new tier suitable for “startups scaling their business.”
When Twitter announced the new pricing, many developers and founders argued that the company should introduce a mid-tier between Basic and Enterprise for startups that can’t afford to spend nearly half a million dollars a year.
The new Pro API tier will cater to some of those people, but it won’t solve businesses running on tight budgets, as they still have to shell out $60,000 per year. For example, this new Pro tier post limit might be enough for some of the bots, but it would be hard for developers to raise money through subscriptions or donations to keep the service going for a long time.
In particular, Twitter has not yet developed a solution for researchers and academics. In March, the company said it was “looking for new ways” to serve that community, but the social network has yet to make any announcements.
At an event recently, Musk said Twitter was on “the comeback arc” after it took drastic steps to cut costs. Earlier this month, the company hired NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino as CEO of both Twitter and the ambitious “app X for everything.”
