Twitter just rolled out its new pricing for API access, hooray! However, for the most part, that basically means that much smaller players might be forced out of the market because these prices aren’t necessarily ‘business-friendly’. With the Twitter 2.0 team significantly upping the price, while simultaneously reducing the capacity of developer and researcher access.
They’re Here!
Twitter’s API, as well as most other platforms, is what allows developers to build apps that read and write Twitter data, which is how most third-party tools, like scheduling tools and analytics, can operate. Up until now, Twitter has offered a generous free API access tier, but now, under the oligarchic rule of its new Chief Twit, Elon Musk, Twitter has looked to bump up the cost, which, again, might force many smaller advertisers out of the market.
Free – This includes write-only access to Twitter, with the ability to post 1,500 tweets per month.
Basic – Twitter’s new Basic tier will cost $100 per month and will enable the posting of up to 3,000 tweets per month at the user level, or 50,000 tweets at the app level. The read limit for this tier is 10,000 tweets per month.
Enterprise – This is for big platforms that make significant use of the Twitter API, and it’ll cost accordingly. There are no specifics listed for this category, but reports suggest that it will cost upwards of $40k per month.
The new Tweet-posting restrictions will hinder many apps, while the cost of moving up to higher tiers will simply be too much to justify – from $100 to upwards of $40k? That’s a 40x increase. How can anyone logically defend whatever concept is behind such a jump? Many third-party tools have already bowed out, which could see many of your favorite Twitter tools shutting down.
Twitter already announced last month that it would be cutting off its free API access, which, of course, caused outrage among the developer community. Chief Twit Elon Musk, unsurprisingly, then ‘changed his mind’, saying that the app would maintain free and cheap access for certain elements. From what you can see above, the ‘FREE’ tier is extremely limited, to the point of redundancy, compared to having an otherwise limitless-Tweet regular Twitter account.
Larger tools, such as Hootsuite and SproutSocial, could also be affected. Take note, these are relatively big apps themselves, but even they will now have to assess whether the new changes will up their costs and whether that increase is then passed onto users. Currently no word on this, but you could see changes in the next few days.
Twitter says that the previous API access tiers will be depreciated over the next 30 days, with apps forced to either switch over or shut down in that time. Twitter says that it’s also working on an alternative access plan for academic researchers, which could provide access to Tweet data.
The Wrap
Restricting access in this way could reduce the relevance of Twitter as a data source, while also making it more difficult to assess performance, which could have flow-on impacts. But the Twitter 2.0 team’s view is that its current API access is enabling bot operators to build their networks, so it needs to change, while Twitter also needs to make more money, as advertisers continue to reduce their spend. Will that impact Twitter usage more broadly? It seems unlikely to change how general users interact with the app, but the broader impacts could compound over time, as fewer apps and tools can access Tweets.
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