Twitter has officially announced its brand new developer API plans. And looking at the details, it’s clear that Elon Musk sees indie developers as acceptable losses in Twitter’s latest cash grab.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, a slew of indie developers have already announced that they will have to close their Twitter-based apps because of the new pricing. After all, how many indie developers can afford $42,000 a month?
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
(Opens in a new tab)
The official Twitter Developer account will arrive on Wednesday shared(Opens in a new tab) details on the pricing of the new API plan. The API essentially provides third-party applications and developers with access to the data and features of the social media platform. The company also emailed details of the new AI plan to developers.
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
(Opens in a new tab)
According to Twitter, free access to the API is only possible allow(Opens in a new tab) developers to write 1,500 tweets per month. The new free tier of the API no longer allows developers to open tweets, only create them.
By comparison, Twitter’s old free plan called “Elevated” currently gives developers access to 2 million tweets per month.
Twitter offers two plans at vastly different price points
Concerning the paid(Opens in a new tab) plan, there is one tier called Basic, which Twitter classifies as being for hobbyists or students. This plan costs $100 per month and only gives access to 10,000 tweets per month. This plan also allows one to write 50,000 tweets per month.
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
(Opens in a new tab)
Again, this new paid plan is much less than the limits of the previous free plan. Most apps that use the Twitter API and have a few regular users will exceed these limits fairly quickly, if they haven’t already.
So, what’s next? The Enterprise plans, which Mashable previously reported on, start at $42,000 per month.
That’s right. There is currently no announced plan between the $100 per month base tier and the $42,000 per month starting price for the Enterprise plans. As of now, if you outgrow the $100 plan, you’ll need to upgrade to the $42,000 per month plan.
Twitter’s email sent to developers, breaking down subscription options for Twitter’s new API plans.
Credit: Mashable screenshot
Elon Musk says the new API pricing is being implemented to kill the bots, but looking at the response on Twitter, it’s more like armageddon for any indie developer running really useful Twitter apps. Numerous developers have already announced that the new API pricing structure is effectively forcing them to shut down their Twitter-based apps.
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
(Opens in a new tab)
“With new Twitter API pricing, I’m sad to announce the end of TwittExplorer 😢,” tweeted @Pauline_Cx(Opens in a new tab).
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
(Opens in a new tab)
“Updated my Twitter bio to reflect current events,” tweeted @adamlyttleapps(Opens in a new tab)next to a screenshot of his new Twitter biography indicating that he will no longer be working on his TopFollowers.io Twitter app.
Many apps will change or disappear altogether
Developers running apps that use the Twitter API, but aren’t fully based on it, also announced some major changes.
“This is sad 😓,” tweeted @SimonHoiberg(Opens in a new tab), which runs a social media management app called FeedHive. “To all our Twitter users, I apologize for the inconvenience! $42,000/month is simply more than what we feel is financially viable or reasonable to pay.”
Half of Twitter Blue subscribers have fewer than 1,000 followers
The FeedHive founder followed up his post with a tweet from his app’s official Twitter profile, announcing that they would have to remove Twitter from the social media platforms that can be controlled through the app.
As of Thursday afternoon, a Slack community for Twitter app developers to discuss these changes has already grown to more than 700 members. At the time of publication, only five app developers said they could afford to remain open under Twitter’s planned API changes.
Shutting down the third-party app ecosystem is a short-sighted move by Musk and company. Many of these apps encourage more use of the Twitter platform by making it easier for users to create more content.
Some apps like @remotejoeclark(Opens in a new tab)Twitter HP motivated users to use Twitter more by enabling them to better track their analytics on the platform. Unfortunately, Twitter’s new API pricing plan has now killed its app.
And unlike some others waiting to see what happens when Twitter closes old API access in the next 30 days, @remotejoeclark was forced to shut down its app and refund customers immediately. Why? Because he upgraded to the new Basic API plan as soon as possible and Twitter immediately locked him out because the app had already exceeded that month’s tweet allotment under the previous API offering. At that point, he already had a choice to make: pay $42,000 or close shop.
How much do indie developers earn?
Many indie developers don’t make that much money from their apps. On Twitter, you often see developers trying to reach a goal of making $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, or maybe even $10,000 a month from their project, hoping to turn it into a self-sufficient full-time job.
At $42,000, Twitter not only makes those goals out of reach for indie developers, it also makes its chances of a profitable future more difficult. By killing the very tools that make people want to use the platform.
Third-party developers will now simply move on to other platforms more friendly to their needs. And while they’re there, they’re creating the tools users want, making Twitter’s social media competitors more popular.