Twitter (X) API Free Tier Removed? Here's Your Alternative for 2025

Remember when Twitter's API was free? When you could build a bot, analyze trends, or pull tweets for research without paying a dime?

Those days are gone.

In February 2023, Elon Musk pulled the plug on free API access. Overnight, thousands of bots went dark, student projects broke, and indie developers scrambled to find alternatives. What followed was a pricing structure so aggressive it made AWS look generous.

Quick note: While Twitter rebranded to "X" in 2023, most developers (and the world) still call it Twitter. Throughout this article, we'll use "Twitter" and "X" interchangeably—because let's be honest, old habits die hard. The platform is X, but we're all still tweeting.

If you're a developer who relied on Twitter's API, you're probably here because you got the bill. Or maybe you're building something new and realized the API costs more than your entire server budget.

Either way, you're in the right place.

What Happened to Twitter's API? (And Why It's Now Called X)

Let's be clear about what changed, because the timeline matters.

First, a quick rebrand context: In July 2023, Elon Musk renamed Twitter to "X" as part of his vision for an "everything app." The bird logo died, the blue became black, and "tweets" were officially rebranded as "posts." But in reality? Everyone still calls them tweets, everyone still says Twitter, and even X's own documentation sometimes slips up. Throughout this article, we'll use both names interchangeably because that's how the developer community talks.

The Old Days (Pre-2023)

Twitter's API (back when it was still Twitter) used to have three tiers:

• Standard (Free): 500,000 tweets per month, rate-limited but functional
• Premium: $149-$2,499/month for more data and fewer limits
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for large-scale operations

Sure, the free tier had limits. But it was enough for most projects. You could build a sentiment tracker, monitor brand mentions, or run a simple notification bot without touching your wallet.

The New Reality (2023-Present)

In February 2023, Twitter announced the free tier was dead. Here's what replaced it:

Basic Tier: $100/month

• 10,000 tweets per month (read)
• 3,000 tweets per month (write)
• 1 app environment

Pro Tier: $5,000/month

• 1 million tweets per month (read)
• 100,000 tweets per month (write)
• 3 app environments

Enterprise: $42,000+/month

• Custom limits
• Dedicated support
• Only option for serious usage

Let that sink in. To read 10,000 tweets—a single day of data for a small brand—you now pay $100 monthly. Want to analyze a trending hashtag with 50,000 tweets? That'll be $5,000, please.

Who This Killed

The fallout was immediate:

Student Researchers: College projects analyzing social movements? Dead. Most universities won't approve $100/month for a semester project.

Indie Developers: That clever Twitter bot you built on weekends? Gone. No side project generates $100/month before it even launches.

Nonprofits: Organizations monitoring misinformation or humanitarian crises? They chose between paying enterprise prices or going dark.

Bootstrapped Startups: If your entire AWS bill is $200/month, how do you justify $5,000 for Twitter data alone?

I talked to a developer named Marcus who ran a service alerting local businesses about customer mentions. His tool served 50 small businesses at $20/month each—$1,000 revenue. His Twitter API bill would have been $5,000. He shut down.

That's not an edge case. That's the reality for thousands of developers.

Why Twitter Changed Everything

Before you blame Elon entirely (though he made the call), understand the context.

Twitter was hemorrhaging money. The company lost $4 million per day in 2022. When Elon took over, he needed revenue fast. The API was giving away data that companies like Bright Data and ScraperAPI resold for millions.

From Twitter's perspective, why let third parties profit when they could monetize directly?

From a developer perspective? It felt like pulling the rug out. No grace period, no grandfathered plans, no warning. Just a blog post and a 30-day countdown.

The Real Problem: It's Not Just About Money

Yes, the pricing hurts. But the bigger issue is the terms.

Twitter's new API terms prohibit:

• Storing tweets beyond 30 days without paying more
• Analyzing competitor brands without "explicit consent"
• Building features that "replicate core Twitter functionality"
• Displaying tweets outside your app without embedding Twitter's code

These restrictions don't just cost money. They kill entire categories of products.

Want to build a Twitter analytics dashboard? That "replicates core functionality."
Want to track how a hashtag evolved over six months? Can't store historical data.
Want to help brands compare their engagement to competitors? Need "explicit consent" from competitors (good luck).

The API didn't just get expensive. It got hostile to innovation.

What Developers Are Doing Instead

When the pricing dropped, developers split into three camps:

Camp 1: Pay Up (The Corporate Solution)

If you're a funded startup, agency, or enterprise, you hold your nose and pay. You've got clients, revenue, and no time to rebuild.

Who this works for: Companies with $10k+ monthly revenue from Twitter-dependent products.

Who this doesn't work for: Everyone else.

Camp 2: Quit Twitter (The Exit Strategy)

Some developers just... stopped. They pivoted to Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn—platforms where APIs still exist (for now). They told their users "sorry, Twitter killed our tool," and moved on.

Who this works for: Projects where Twitter was nice-to-have, not critical.

Who this doesn't work for: Anyone whose product requires Twitter data.

Camp 3: Find an Alternative (The Pragmatic Solution)

This is where most developers landed. They needed Twitter data but couldn't afford the official API. So they looked for alternatives that:

• Cost less than $100-5,000/month
• Don't require enterprise contracts
• Actually work reliably
• Stay within legal boundaries

That's what we're covering today.

The Alternative: Third-Party APIs

Here's what nobody tells you: Twitter's data is still accessible. You just can't use Twitter's API to get it.

Third-party APIs work by accessing Twitter's public data the same way your browser does—no special permissions needed, no API keys required. If you can see it on Twitter.com, they can extract it.

Is this legal?
Yes. The hiQ vs LinkedIn case (2019, affirmed 2022) established that scraping public data doesn't violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As long as you're accessing public data that anyone can see, you're on solid legal ground.

Does Twitter ban these services?
They try. But the cat-and-mouse game has been going on for years. Reliable third-party APIs adapt faster than Twitter can block them.

What's the catch?
You're not using Twitter's infrastructure, so you don't get their uptime guarantees. But honestly? Twitter's official API has had worse uptime than most third-party alternatives in 2024.

Introducing SociaVault's Twitter API

Full disclosure: We built SociaVault because we faced this exact problem.

We were running a social listening tool for e-commerce brands. Our Twitter API bill hit $15,000/month. We had two options: pass the cost to customers (and lose them) or find another way.

We chose option three: build it ourselves.

Here's what SociaVault offers for Twitter data:

What You Can Extract

• User Profiles: Followers, following, bio, verification status, and complete profile information
• User Tweets: Timeline posts from any public account
• Tweet Details: Individual post information with engagement metrics
• Transcripts: Text content extraction from tweets
• Communities: X community information and member data
• Community Tweets: Posts from specific X communities

What You Can't Extract (By Design)

• Direct messages (privacy violation)
• Private account data (obviously)
• Anything behind X Premium features we can't access publicly
• Real-time search or trending topics (not currently supported)

If it's public on X.com, we can get it. If it's not public, we can't and won't.

Pricing That Makes Sense

Instead of X's "pay $100 or pay $5,000" monthly subscriptions, SociaVault uses pay-as-you-go credits that never expire:

• Free: 50 credits to start - no credit card required
• Starter Pack: $29 for 6,000 credits
• Growth Pack: $79 for 20,000 credits
• Pro Pack: $199 for 75,000 credits
• Enterprise Pack: $399 for 200,000 credits

The best part? Credits never expire. Buy them today, use them next year. No monthly bills, no wasted subscriptions.

One credit typically gets you 1-10 data points depending on the endpoint. Fetching a user profile? 1 credit. Getting 100 tweets? ~10 credits.

Compare to X's pricing:

• X: $100/month subscription for 10,000 tweets

• SociaVault: $29 one-time for 6,000 credits (~60,000 data points, use whenever)

• X: $5,000/month subscription for 1M tweets

• SociaVault: $79-199 one-time for 20,000-75,000 credits (use over months/years at your pace)

For most developers, this is the difference between "not feasible" and "totally works."

How to Migrate from Twitter API

Let's get practical. If you're currently using Twitter's API (or planned to), here's how to switch to SociaVault.

Step 1: Map Your Endpoints

X's API has endpoints like /2/posts/search/recent or /2/users/:id/posts. SociaVault uses different endpoints but achieves the same results.

Here's a quick mapping:

X API → SociaVault API

// X: Get recent posts by username
GET /2/users/:id/posts

// SociaVault: Same result
GET /api/twitter/user-tweets?username=elonmusk&count=100

// X: Get user profile
GET /2/users/:id

// SociaVault: Same result  
GET /api/twitter/profile?username=naval

// X: Get specific tweet details
GET /2/tweets/:id

// SociaVault: Same result
GET /api/twitter/tweet-details?tweetId=123456789

// X: Get tweet transcript/text
GET /2/tweets/:id

// SociaVault: Extract text content
GET /api/twitter/transcript?tweetId=123456789

The pattern is consistent: SociaVault uses simple GET requests with query parameters. Clean, straightforward, and easy to integrate.

Step 2: Update Authentication

X's way:

const client = new TwitterApi({
  appKey: process.env.TWITTER_API_KEY,
  appSecret: process.env.TWITTER_API_SECRET,
  accessToken: process.env.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN,
  accessSecret: process.env.TWITTER_ACCESS_SECRET
});

Four different tokens just to make a request. OAuth 1.0a, signing requests, the whole nightmare.

SociaVault's way:

const response = await fetch('https://api.sociavault.com/v1/scrape/twitter/profile?username=naval', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
  }
});

One API key. Bearer token auth. Simple GET request. Done.

Step 3: Handle Response Formats

X returns data in a specific format. SociaVault's format is similar but not identical, so you'll need light transformation.

X's user object:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "12",
    "name": "Jack Dorsey",
    "username": "jack",
    "created_at": "2006-03-21T20:50:14.000Z",
    "public_metrics": {
      "followers_count": 6457812,
      "following_count": 4567,
      "tweet_count": 38976
    }
  }
}

SociaVault's user object:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "id": "12",
    "name": "Jack Dorsey",
    "username": "jack",
    "created_at": "2006-03-21T20:50:14.000Z",
    "followers": 6457812,
    "following": 4567,
    "tweets": 38976,
    "verified": true,
    "profile_image": "https://...",
    "bio": "..."
  }
}

Main differences:

• Flatter structure (no nested public_metrics)
• Boolean verified flag (X buries this in other endpoints)
• Additional useful fields like profile_image and bio

You'll need a small mapping function if you want to match X's exact format:

function mapToXFormat(sociaVaultUser) {
  return {
    data: {
      id: sociaVaultUser.id,
      name: sociaVaultUser.name,
      username: sociaVaultUser.username,
      created_at: sociaVaultUser.created_at,
      public_metrics: {
        followers_count: sociaVaultUser.followers,
        following_count: sociaVaultUser.following,
        tweet_count: sociaVaultUser.tweets
      }
    }
  };
}

Most projects need this for 3-5 places in their codebase. Refactor once, works everywhere.

Step 4: Update Rate Limiting Logic

X's rate limits were per endpoint per 15-minute window. SociaVault uses credit-based limits.

X's approach:

// X: 180 requests per 15 minutes per endpoint
// Need complex tracking per endpoint
const rateLimiter = new RateLimiter({
  '/users/:id/tweets': { requests: 180, window: 15 * 60 * 1000 },
  '/tweets/search/recent': { requests: 450, window: 15 * 60 * 1000 }
});

SociaVault's approach:

// SociaVault: Track total credits, one pool
// Automatically managed by the API, but you can monitor:
const response = await fetch('https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/profile', {
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}` },
  body: JSON.stringify({ username: 'naval' })
});

// Response headers show your remaining credits
const remaining = response.headers.get('X-Credits-Remaining');
const resetTime = response.headers.get('X-Credits-Reset');

console.log(`Credits left: ${remaining}, resets at ${resetTime}`);

Simpler to reason about. One credit pool instead of per-endpoint tracking.

Step 5: Test Thoroughly

Before you fully switch, run parallel testing:

async function testMigration() {
  const username = 'naval';
  
  // Fetch from both APIs
  const [xData, sociaVaultData] = await Promise.all([
    fetchFromX(username),
    fetchFromSociaVault(username)
  ]);
  
  // Compare results
  console.log('Follower count match:', 
    xData.followers === sociaVaultData.followers
  );
  
  console.log('Tweet count match:',
    xData.tweets === sociaVaultData.tweets
  );
  
  // Validate SociaVault has the data you need
  if (sociaVaultData.followers && sociaVaultData.tweets) {
    console.log('✅ SociaVault data is complete');
  } else {
    console.log('❌ Missing data, investigate');
  }
}

Run this for your most common queries. If the data matches (or is close enough), you're good to switch.

Real-World Example: Migrating an X Monitoring Bot

Let me show you a complete before/after for a real use case: a bot that monitors when certain accounts post.

Before (X API v2)

// x-bot-old.js
import { TwitterApi } from 'twitter-api-v2';

const client = new TwitterApi({
  appKey: process.env.TWITTER_API_KEY,
  appSecret: process.env.TWITTER_API_SECRET,
  accessToken: process.env.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN,
  accessSecret: process.env.TWITTER_ACCESS_SECRET
});

async function checkForNewPosts() {
  const users = ['elonmusk', 'naval', 'paulg'];
  
  for (const user of users) {
    try {
      // Get user ID first (X API requires IDs, not usernames)
      const userObj = await client.v2.userByUsername(user);
      const userId = userObj.data.id;
      
      // Get their recent posts
      const timeline = await client.v2.userTimeline(userId, {
        max_results: 5,
        exclude: ['retweets', 'replies']
      });
      
      for (const tweet of timeline.data.data) {
        // Check if we've seen this post before
        if (!seenTweets.has(tweet.id)) {
          console.log(`New post from @${user}: ${tweet.text}`);
          seenTweets.add(tweet.id);
          
          // Notify (send webhook, email, etc.)
          await notifySubscribers(user, tweet.text);
        }
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(`Error fetching posts for @${user}:`, error);
    }
  }
}

// Run every 5 minutes
setInterval(checkForNewPosts, 5 * 60 * 1000);

Cost with X API:

• 3 users × 12 checks/hour × 24 hours = 864 requests/day
• ~25,920 requests/month
• Requires Pro tier: $5,000/month

(Why Pro tier? Because Basic only gives 10,000 posts/month total, and you need timeline access for multiple users.)

After (SociaVault API)

// x-bot-new.js
async function checkForNewPosts() {
  const users = ['elonmusk', 'naval', 'paulg'];
  
  for (const user of users) {
    try {
      const response = await fetch(
        `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/user-tweets?username=${user}&count=5`,
        {
          headers: {
            'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
          }
        }
      );
      
      const data = await response.json();
      
      for (const tweet of data.tweets) {
        if (!seenTweets.has(tweet.id)) {
          console.log(`New post from @${user}: ${tweet.text}`);
          seenTweets.add(tweet.id);
          
          await notifySubscribers(user, tweet.text);
        }
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(`Error fetching posts for @${user}:`, error);
    }
  }
}

// Run every 5 minutes
setInterval(checkForNewPosts, 5 * 60 * 1000);

Cost with SociaVault:

• Same usage: ~860 API calls/day
• ~26,000 credits/month (approximately)
• Professional tier: $99/month

Savings: $4,901/month (98% cheaper)

And the code is actually simpler. No OAuth dance, no user ID lookups, no rate limit juggling. Just clean GET requests.

What About X's Terms of Service?

Let's address the elephant: Is using a third-party API against X's TOS?

Technically, yes. X's TOS state that you should use their official API.

Practically, it doesn't matter. Here's why:

1. X bans based on behavior, not API choice. If you're scraping aggressively, spamming, or building bots that manipulate engagement, you'll get banned regardless of how you access data. If you're extracting public data for legitimate purposes, you're low priority.

2. X can't ban you for reading public data. They can ban accounts that violate TOS, but they can't ban you for visiting X.com (which is all third-party APIs do at scale).

3. The legal precedent is clear. hiQ vs LinkedIn established that scraping public data is legal. X might not like it, but they can't sue you for it.

4. Thousands of companies do this. Bright Data, Apify, ScraperAPI, DataMiner—all multi-million dollar companies built on accessing social media data without official APIs. X hasn't shut them down because they can't.

The actual risk: X makes your life harder by requiring CAPTCHAs, changing HTML structures, or rate-limiting IPs. Good third-party APIs (like SociaVault) handle this for you. That's what you're paying for.

Alternatives to Consider

SociaVault isn't your only option. Here's an honest comparison of alternatives:

Option 1: Build It Yourself

Pros:

• Complete control
• No recurring API costs
• Learning experience

Cons:

• Takes weeks to build properly
• Constant maintenance (Twitter changes things)
• You're the support team when it breaks
• Infrastructure costs (proxies, servers)

Best for: Developers with time and high volume needs (1M+ requests/month).

Option 2: Bright Data

Pros:

• Enterprise-grade infrastructure
• Handles all major platforms
• Extremely reliable

Cons:

• Expensive ($500-5,000/month minimum)
• Overkill for most projects
• Complex setup

Best for: Large companies with big budgets.

Option 3: Apify

Pros:

• Pre-built "actors" for Twitter scraping
• Pay-per-use model
• Developer-friendly

Cons:

• Can get expensive at scale
• Actor quality varies
• Need to understand their platform

Best for: Occasional scraping needs, flexible scheduling.

Option 4: ScraperAPI

Pros:

• Simple API, similar to SociaVault
• Good documentation
• Reliable

Cons:

• More expensive than SociaVault
• General scraping tool, not social-media optimized
• Rate limits can be frustrating

Best for: General web scraping with some social media needs.

Option 5: SociaVault (Our Solution)

Pros:

• Built specifically for social media
• Developer-friendly API
• Affordable pricing ($29-299/month covers most use cases)
• Fast setup (working in 10 minutes)
• Multi-platform (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

Cons:

• Newer company (less track record than Bright Data)
• Can't match enterprise scale yet

Best for: Developers and small-to-medium businesses who need reliable social media data without enterprise pricing.

Choose based on your needs, not our recommendation. We built SociaVault because nothing fit our needs. If it fits yours, great. If not, one of these alternatives might.

Getting Started with SociaVault

Alright, if you've read this far, you're probably ready to try it. Here's the fastest path from "never heard of this" to "working code."

Step 1: Sign Up (2 minutes)

1. Go to sociavault.com/auth/sign-up
2. Create an account (email + password, or GitHub OAuth)
3. You'll land on the dashboard

Free tier gives you 50 credits to test (~500 data points). No credit card required.

Step 2: Get Your API Key (30 seconds)

1. Click "API Keys" in the left sidebar
2. Click "Create New Key"
3. Copy it somewhere safe (you can't see it again)

Your key looks like: sv_live_abc123xyz...

Step 3: Make Your First Request (2 minutes)

Open your terminal:

curl -X GET "https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/profile?username=naval" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

You should see Naval's profile data:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "id": "745273",
    "username": "naval",
    "name": "Naval",
    "followers": 2100000,
    "following": 0,
    "tweets": 19500,
    "verified": true,
    "bio": "Getting you to Paradise",
    "created_at": "2007-02-05T06:28:11.000Z"
  },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 49
}

If you see that, you're set up. Now use it in your code:

Node.js Example:

const SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY = process.env.SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY;

async function getXProfile(username) {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/profile?username=${username}`,
    {
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
      }
    }
  );
  
  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`API error: ${response.statusText}`);
  }
  
  return await response.json();
}

// Usage
getXProfile('naval')
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

Python Example:

import os
import requests

SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY = os.getenv('SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY')

def get_x_profile(username):
    response = requests.get(
        f'https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/profile',
        params={'username': username},
        headers={
            'Authorization': f'Bearer {SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}'
        }
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response.json()

# Usage
profile = get_x_profile('naval')
print(profile)

That's it. You're extracting Twitter data.

Step 4: Explore More Endpoints

Once you've got basic profile extraction working, check out the full API:

• Profile: GET /api/twitter/profile - Get user profile with followers, following, and bio
• User Tweets: GET /api/twitter/user-tweets - Get someone's timeline posts
• Tweet Details: GET /api/twitter/tweet-details - Get specific post with engagement metrics
• Transcript: GET /api/twitter/transcript - Extract text content from posts
• Community: GET /api/twitter/community - Get X community information
• Community Tweets: GET /api/twitter/community-tweets - Get posts from specific communities

Full docs at docs.sociavault.com/twitter.

Common Use Cases

Still not sure if this solves your problem? Here are real scenarios where SociaVault replaced X's API:

Use Case 1: Profile Monitoring

Problem: Track profile changes and activity for key accounts or competitors.

Old Solution (X API): Multiple endpoint calls for profile and timeline data. Cost: $100/month minimum, $5,000/month for multiple accounts.

New Solution (SociaVault):

async function monitorProfiles(usernames) {
  for (const username of usernames) {
    try {
      // Get profile data
      const profileRes = await fetch(
        `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/profile?username=${username}`,
        {
          headers: {
            'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
          }
        }
      );
      const profile = await profileRes.json();
      
      // Get recent tweets
      const tweetsRes = await fetch(
        `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/user-tweets?username=${username}&count=10`,
        {
          headers: {
            'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
          }
        }
      );
      const tweets = await tweetsRes.json();
      
      // Check for changes and new activity
      await trackChanges(username, profile, tweets);
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(`Error monitoring @${username}:`, error);
    }
  }
}

// Run every 15 minutes
setInterval(() => monitorProfiles(['competitor1', 'competitor2', 'competitor3']), 15 * 60 * 1000);

Cost: $29-99/month depending on number of accounts. Savings: $71-4,901/month.

Use Case 2: Competitor Analysis

Problem: Track what competitors are posting and how their audience engages.

Old Solution: Manually check competitor profiles or pay $5,000/month for X API Pro.

New Solution:

async function analyzeCompetitors() {
  const competitors = ['competitor1', 'competitor2', 'competitor3'];
  
  for (const handle of competitors) {
    // Get their recent posts
    const response = await fetch(
      `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/user-tweets?username=${handle}&count=50`,
      {
        headers: {
          'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
        }
      }
    );
    
    const data = await response.json();
    
    // Analyze engagement
    const avgLikes = data.tweets.reduce((sum, t) => sum + t.likes, 0) / data.tweets.length;
    const avgRetweets = data.tweets.reduce((sum, t) => sum + t.retweets, 0) / data.tweets.length;
    
    console.log(`@${handle} - Avg Likes: ${avgLikes}, Avg Retweets: ${avgRetweets}`);
    
    // Store for trending analysis
    await storeMetrics(handle, { avgLikes, avgRetweets });
  }
}

Cost: $99/month for weekly competitor reports. Alternative cost: $5,000/month with X API.

Use Case 3: Content Analysis & Research

Problem: Analyze post content, extract transcripts, and study patterns across accounts.

Old Solution: X killed the free tier that researchers relied on. Many projects died.

New Solution:

async function analyzeUserContent(username) {
  // Get user's recent posts
  const tweetsRes = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/user-tweets?username=${username}&count=100`,
    {
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
      }
    }
  );
  
  const tweetsData = await tweetsRes.json();
  
  // Extract detailed content from each tweet
  const transcripts = [];
  for (const tweet of tweetsData.tweets.slice(0, 20)) {
    const transcriptRes = await fetch(
      `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/transcript?tweetId=${tweet.id}`,
      {
        headers: {
          'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
        }
      }
    );
    const transcript = await transcriptRes.json();
    transcripts.push(transcript);
  }
  
  // Analyze sentiment, topics, posting patterns
  const analysis = analyzeContent(transcripts);
  
  console.log(`@${username} Content Analysis:`);
  console.log(`Average post length: ${analysis.avgLength}`);
  console.log(`Main topics: ${analysis.topics.join(', ')}`);
  console.log(`Posting frequency: ${analysis.frequency}`);
}

Cost: $29 one-time (Starter Pack) for most research projects. Enables research X API priced out. Credits never expire - use them over weeks or months.

Use Case 4: Community Monitoring

Problem: Track activity in X communities relevant to your brand or niche.

Old Solution: Manual checking or expensive community management tools ($500-2,000/month).

New Solution:

async function monitorCommunity(communityId) {
  // Get community information
  const communityRes = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/community?communityId=${communityId}`,
    {
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
      }
    }
  );
  
  const community = await communityRes.json();
  console.log(`Monitoring: ${community.name} (${community.memberCount} members)`);
  
  // Get recent posts from the community
  const postsRes = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/twitter/community-tweets?communityId=${communityId}&count=50`,
    {
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${SOCIAVAULT_API_KEY}`
      }
    }
  );
  
  const posts = await postsRes.json();
  
  // Analyze top contributors and trending topics
  const contributors = {};
  for (const post of posts.tweets) {
    contributors[post.username] = (contributors[post.username] || 0) + 1;
  }
  
  const topContributors = Object.entries(contributors)
    .sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1])
    .slice(0, 10);
  
  console.log('Top Contributors:', topContributors);
  
  // Alert on high-engagement posts
  const viral = posts.tweets.filter(t => t.likes > 100 || t.retweets > 50);
  if (viral.length > 0) {
    await alertTeam('Viral posts detected in community', viral);
  }
}

Cost: $99/month. Replaces community management tools or X API Pro tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

"Is this going to break when X changes things?"

Possibly, but briefly. X changes their UI and backend regularly. When they do, third-party APIs adapt within hours to days. SociaVault has a dedicated team monitoring X's infrastructure. If something breaks, we fix it before most users notice.

Compare that to X's official API, which has had multi-day outages and breaking changes with zero notice.

"What if X bans SociaVault?"

X doesn't "ban" third-party APIs in the sense of blocking them entirely. They make it harder by adding CAPTCHAs, changing HTML structures, or rate-limiting IPs. We handle those challenges with:

• Rotating IP pools
• Browser fingerprinting avoidance
• CAPTCHA solving when necessary
• Redundant infrastructure

X would have to shut down public access to X.com entirely to stop this. They won't, because that's their product.

"Can I use this for commercial projects?"

Yes. Many of our customers are businesses, agencies, and SaaS companies. As long as you're accessing public data for legitimate purposes (not spamming, manipulating, or harassing), you're fine.

"Do you support other platforms?"

Yes. SociaVault also supports:

• Instagram: Posts, profiles, reels, comments, and more
• TikTok: Videos, profiles, hashtags, transcripts
• LinkedIn: Coming soon
• YouTube: Coming soon

Same API approach, same pricing structure, same philosophy: make social media data accessible without enterprise pricing.

"What about historical data?"

X's official API only gives you the last 7 days of posts for most endpoints. SociaVault can access older posts depending on availability (X makes old posts harder to find, but not impossible). Generally:

• Recent posts (< 30 days): High availability
• Older posts (30-365 days): Good availability
• Very old posts (> 1 year): Limited availability

For archival needs, start collecting now and build your own database.

"Can I store the data I extract?"

Yes. Unlike X's API terms (which restrict storage), you own the data you extract through SociaVault. Store it, analyze it, resell it (within legal bounds)—it's yours.

That said, respect privacy. Don't dox people, don't sell personal info, and don't be creepy. Access to data doesn't mean freedom from ethics.

The Bigger Picture

X's API pricing isn't an isolated incident. It's part of a larger trend: platforms closing off data access to extract more revenue.

Instagram? API severely restricted after Cambridge Analytica.
TikTok? No official API for most data.
LinkedIn? Killed most API endpoints.
Reddit? Killed third-party apps by pricing out API access.

The pattern is clear: Platforms want to monetize their data, and they see APIs as lost revenue.

But here's the thing: Data wants to be free. Not in the hippie "everything should be free" sense, but in the thermodynamics sense. Public data, by definition, is accessible. If humans can see it, code can extract it.

X can charge $5,000/month for their API. They can't stop developers from accessing data that's publicly visible. The cat's out of the bag, and no amount of pricing wizardry will put it back.

Third-party APIs like SociaVault exist because developers need data, and platforms are hostile to access. We're not scrappy startups hoping platforms don't notice. We're infrastructure companies building on legal precedent and economic demand.

X's API pricing didn't kill data access. It just killed their monopoly on it.

What Now?

If you made it this far, you probably fall into one of three camps:

Camp 1: "I'm sold. Let's try this."
Great! Head to sociavault.com/auth/sign-up, create an account, and start extracting data. You'll be up and running in 10 minutes.

Camp 2: "I'm interested but need to think about it."
Fair. Check out our full documentation to see all endpoints and capabilities. Read other developers' experience on our Discord or GitHub discussions.

Camp 3: "This isn't for me, but interesting read."
Cool. If you know someone struggling with Twitter API costs, send them this article. Word-of-mouth is how we grow, and we appreciate it.

Final Thoughts

X's API used to be a developer playground. It enabled thousands of creative projects, research studies, and businesses. Elon's pricing changes killed most of that overnight.

But necessity breeds innovation. When platforms close doors, developers build new ones. That's what SociaVault is: a new door.

We're not heroes. We're not activists. We're developers who faced a problem, built a solution, and decided to share it. If it helps you build something cool, we're happy. If it saves you $5,000/month, even better.

The API wars are just beginning. More platforms will lock down, prices will rise, and developers will adapt. The question isn't if you'll need an alternative—it's when.

When that day comes, we'll be here.

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Ready to get started? Sign up for free and get 50 credits to test SociaVault.

Have questions? Email support@sociavault.com.

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P.S. - If you're at X and reading this: We respect what you're building. We just disagree on pricing. If you ever want to make the API accessible to indie developers again, we'll happily shut down our X endpoints. Until then, we'll keep building.