What posting to X through the API costs (checked 11 November 2026)
Short answer: on X's pay-per-use API, creating a post costs $0.015 and creating a post that contains a URL costs $0.200, according to X's pricing page on 11 November 2026. In our own test, a text post and a 6-second video post came to $0.05 in total. The cheap path on X is to keep links out of the main post. We build PostSail, which does that.
X's prices for creating posts
| Request | Price (X pricing page, 11 Nov 2026) | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Post: Create | $0.015 per request | A post without a link |
| Post: Create (with URL) | $0.200 per request | A post whose text contains a link: about 13 times the price |
X adds: "Prices are subject to change. Current rates are always available in the Developer Console." The page does not list replies or media uploads as separate lines.
Our own bill
On 10 November 2026 we posted from our own X account through the API, in the PostSail demo workspace: one text post and one 6-second vertical video (H.264, 1080×1920). Neither had a link.
- X's developer console counted 3 "Post: Create" events for the 2 posts and showed $0.05 in total (3 × $0.015 is $0.045).
- The only other call was the video's upload, so we read the third event as the upload. That makes about $0.03 for the video post and $0.015 for the text post.
- The video post was not billed as a post with a URL.
- Each post went out in one request: 3.5 s for the text, 3.4 s for the video.
One run each, not a benchmark.
Links: the expensive part
- A link in the main post makes it a "Post: Create (with URL)": $0.200 instead of $0.015.
- X's pricing page does not list replies separately. A reply is created with the same request as a post, so a reply with a link falls under the same price. We have not measured a reply with a link ourselves.
That is why tools treat links on X separately (each vendor's own page, 11 November 2026):
| Tool | Links on X |
|---|---|
| Upload-Post | Link posts on X are an add-on: $19/month, up to 50 a month. |
| Zernio | X API calls are passed through at X's rates: $0.015 a post, $0.200 a post with a URL. |
| PostSail (ours) | Removed from the main post; the link can go in a first comment (a reply). Included: 10 first comments with links a month on Starter, 40 on Pro. |
Bluesky for comparison
Bluesky does not charge for its API (the AT Protocol); it has rate limits instead. In the same test, a text post was live in 4.9 s (cold start included) and the 6-second video in 20.7 s end to end, most of it Bluesky's video processing.
Method and sources
- We make PostSail. The test used our own accounts; nothing was posted for anyone else.
- Prices: X's API pricing page, read 11 November 2026 (docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing).
- Our bill: X's developer console for our account, 10 November 2026.
- Tool prices: each vendor's own page on 11 November 2026 (post-bridge.com/mcp/docs, upload-post.com/pricing, zernio.com/pricing).
- Timings: our server logs for the requests.
See also: Post Bridge alternatives and Post to X and Bluesky with one API request.