Following weeks of delay, Twitter’s API access tiers are finally here. The company first announced changes to its API last month, saying that it will no longer support free access to the Twitter API. However, the newly announced price structures also include a barebones free tier for content-posting bots. There are three tiers in all – a Free tier with tight limits, a more relaxed $100 Basic tier, and a costly Enterprise tier. The company adds that Ads API will continue to be available at no additional cost to “approved Twitter API developers, including developers on the new Free tier.” Twitter also stated in a tweet that over the next 30 days, the old access levels including Standard (v1.1), Essential (v2), Elevated (v2), and Premium will be deprecated, asking developers to migrate to the new tiers as soon as possible “for a smooth transition.” To recall, Twitter first announced changes to API back in February, stating that free API access would be done away with in a few days. The announcement spurred a massive discussion surrounding the possible end of Twitter’s many beloved content-posting bots when the API changes go live. However, perhaps due to the heavy criticism, Elon Musk changed his mind saying that the company would still provide a free tier to bots that provide “good content.” On February 13, Twitter said that the launch had been delayed by a few more days. Over the past few months, Twitter’s decisions haven’t exactly been in the favour of developers. Last year, the company shut down multiple developer initiatives including Twitter Toolbox and Twitter Tiles. Then in January, the company killed all third-party client apps. Now with the new API limits, developers may be discouraged even further.
