Best Twitter (X) scrapers and APIs in 2026, compared

November 8, 2026

Getting X (Twitter) data changed a lot after 2023. The official API is now pay-per-use, several X-only data APIs compete on price, and the best-known open-source scraper needs logged-in accounts. Here is what each option costs and does well, checked on the vendors' own pages.

Quick comparison

Tool	Price	Platforms	Best at
X API (official)	$5 per 1,000 posts, $10 per 1,000 users	X	Writes, official data, full archive
SocialData	$0.20 per 1,000 items	X	Cheap X reads, no charge for failures
TwitterAPI.io	$0.15 per 1,000 tweets	X	High throughput, streams
Bright Data	$1.50 per 1,000 records	Many	Bulk posts and profiles to storage
EnsembleData	From $100 a month	Many	Steady daily volume
twscrape	Free, open source	X	Needs your own X accounts
ScrapeIO	$47 for 25,000 credits	33	X plus other platforms, one schema

1. The official X API

Pay-per-use with no subscription: reading a post costs $0.005 and a user $0.010. Repeat reads of the same resource in a UTC day are deduplicated. Pay-per-use accounts cap at 3 million post reads a month; above that you need Enterprise. X Recent search covers the last 7 days, and full-archive search back to 2006 is available on pay-per-use. source

Pick it when you need to post, reply or DM, need the full archive, or need a contract with X itself.

2. SocialData

X-only, $0.20 per 1,000 items for most endpoints, with a few checks priced higher, such as verifying a follow at $0.004. Failed requests and requests with no data are not billed. source Pick it for high-volume X reads on a budget.

3. TwitterAPI.io

X-only, $0.15 per 1,000 tweets and $0.18 per 1,000 single profile lookups, with a minimum of $0.00015 per call. Recharged credits never expire; free and bonus credits last 31 days. source Pick it for throughput and real-time streams.

4. Bright Data

Scrapers for X posts and profiles, plus hashtag and followers variants, at $1.50 per 1,000 records pay as you go or $499 a month for 384,000. 5,000 free records a month. source Pick it for scheduled bulk exports into cloud storage.

5. EnsembleData

A multi-platform API that lists Twitter on every plan, from $100 a month for 1,500 units a day, reset daily at 00:00 UTC. source

6. Open source: twscrape

A Python library and CLI for X search and GraphQL endpoints. Its README says it "requires authorized X/Twitter accounts" and runs on your own pool of accounts. source X's terms forbid scraping without written permission, so accounts used this way are at risk. X terms Fine for learning how the data is shaped; risky for anything you depend on.

7. ScrapeIO

A per-call API with X endpoints for profiles, user posts, single posts, replies, search with X operators, trends and communities. Its strength is breadth: the same handle, followers, likes and created_at fields on X, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. For X-only work at very high volume, the X-only APIs above are cheaper per item.

How to choose

Need to write or act as a user? Official API only.
Millions of X posts a month, X only? An X-specialist API.
Weekly exports to a warehouse? A bulk scraper.
X as one of several platforms, or an AI agent? A multi-platform API.
Check: are empty results billed? Do credits expire? What is the rate limit?

Doing it with ScrapeIO

Start with the X profile API, the X user posts API and the X search API. Calls cost 1 credit, not-found and private accounts are free, and you get 100 credits on signup. See the X platform page and the comparisons with SocialData and TwitterAPI.io.

Sources

Checked on 8 November 2026 from each vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change; follow the links before you decide.

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

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