Twitter extends free API access, adds a new free tier

Twitter has announced that it will extend free access to the platform’s Application Programming Interface (API) for developers to February 13.

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The Elon Musk-led social media platform said that it would be introducing a new paid basic access tier for developers, that will offer them low-level API usage and access to Twitter’s Ads API for $100 per month.

We have been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you can continue to build and innovate with us.

We’re excited to announce an extension of the current free Twitter API access through February 13. Here’s what we’re shipping then — Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 8, 2023

When Twitter initially announced the plans to charge for API access, many were worried that helpful bots — bots that help with reminders or saving videos, for instance — will go offline because most of the bot makers refused to pay for access to the API.

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Twitter will now introduce a limited free plan to address this, which will be limited to 1,500 tweets per month, “for a single authenticated user token, including Login with Twitter.”

The platform will also start depreciating access to the Premium API, and people who were subscribed to Premium will have to apply for Enterprise access to continue using the API.

Twitter reiterated it was doing this to, “increase quality, reduce spam, and enable a thriving ecosystem.”