Twitter Announces New Data API Access Costs $42000 a Month

Those who want to access the official Twitter interface via API now have to dig deep into their pockets. Access costs at least $42,000 a month. The new pricing structure should ensure that only a few researchers will be able to access the data in the future.

Until now, research institutions and other non-profit institutions have had free access to the Twitter API. Without a corresponding contract, it was possible to fall back on one percent of the available data sets. While the premium plan used to cost $2899 per month, large companies could sign up for an enterprise plan. That should change now. In the recent past, the short message service acquired by Elon Musk blocked access to third-party apps. According to Wired, existing user accounts have now been informed of the new prices for the API.

While the cheapest tariff only includes access to 0.3 percent of the stored data, the monthly subscription should be $42,000. Thus, an organization would have to spend more than half a million dollars a year to be able to evaluate tweets. The largest package is said to cost $210,000 per month and includes four times the amount of data sets. There is also another plan for $125,000 a month. The packages each come with different restrictions on the number of searches.

Scientists are excluded

An anonymous researcher told Wired that the cost structure almost precludes its use for academic purposes. Nobody has the financial resources to be able to provide the required amount for access to the interface. Although researchers could study other platforms, Twitter datasets are often used for work in the field due to the wide variety of user groups.