After warning that its free API access will soon be discontinued, Twitter is now putting a price on its commercial API subscriptions.
It's also not inexpensive.
The business has begun sending emails to current customers of Twitter's free API service informing them of the new subscription packages' prices. Chris Stokel-Walker, who broke the story, claims that anyone interested in Enterprise API access will have to pay millions of dollars a year.
The pricing packages, which start at $42,000 per month for access to 50 million tweets, are described in the documentation that Twitter reps delivered to those API customers. The most expensive service, which includes 200 million tweets, costs up to $210,000 every month. The cost of a mid-tier package with 100 million tweets is $125,000.
Strangely, the pricing structure costs extra, as opposed to offering additional levels at a discount for clients who spend more, as many other online businesses do. (For instance, 100 million tweets should cost $84,000 given that there are twice as many tweets, yet Twitter is asking $125,000.)
Prior to the arrival of Elon Musk, Twitter provided a generous free tier of its API. There were "Premium" and "Enterprise" API plans available. The "premium" plan, whose maximum advertised membership fee was $2,899(Opens in a new tab) per month, was the most expensive option available. Before, the "Enterprise" API tier was only available to big companies with more than 250 users. Depending on the organisation or business, Twitter determined the cost of such on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to the hefty price, the lowest plan offered by the new regulations only allows access to 0.3 percent of tweets. One percent of tweets are accessible under the soon-to-expire free plan, according to people who are currently utilising the API.
Users of Twitter's API, particularly researchers, make up a sizable segment of the user population. Some scholars have argued that this fee makes using the Twitter API out of their financial grasp.
On Feb. 2, just a little more than a month ago, Twitter made one of its largest platform improvements since Elon Musk became the company's CEO. Twitter would no longer provide free basic API access to everyone, including small independent developers and university researchers. All users would now be required to pay. Unfortunately, at the time, no more information was given.
Musk's intention to charge for API access hasn't quite worked out. Free access was supposed to end on February 9, but no adjustments were made before that day. The new API regulations were then scheduled to go into effect on February 13 (Opens in a new tab), but Twitter instead merely announced (Opens in a new tab) another postponement that day.
But, earlier this week, Twitter had a serious platform issue that resulted in the entire shutdown of links, images, and other services for hours. Later, it was discovered that a developer's attempt to get Twitter ready for the switch to its premium API membership was what had triggered the crash.
When it was originally revealed, Elon Musk's decision to end free API access drew harsh criticism. Several well-known, unpaid Twitter bots and automated accounts planned to close down. Musk changed his mind in response and said that Twitter will grant free "read-only" access with reduced API restrictions to free applications.
Although it hasn't been confirmed, Musk has also mentioned(Opens in a new tab) the concept of charging about $100 per month for simpler API access for startups and small projects that are funded by their founders.
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