James stellerTwitter Launches API ‘Pro’ Plan for ‘Startups’, Developers Think It’s a Slap in the Face
Too little, too late. Or really, still too much and also too late. That’s the sentiment among startup founders and indie developers when it comes to Twitter‘s newly announced API plans meant for startups.
On Thursday, Twitter announced a new paid API subscription tier called Twitter API Pro that the company claims is meant for “startups.”
“Experiment, build, and scale your business with 1M Tweets per month, including our powerful real-time Filtered/Stream and Full Archive Search endpoints,” the official Twitter Dev account tweeted(opens in a new tab) when announcing the plan.
The cost of this new supposedly startup-friendly API plan? A whopping $5,000 per month.
Many did not take this new “more affordable” pricing tier news well.
“I don’t know who this plan is for,” tweeted(opens in a new tab) one Twitter user.
“Idk what kind of ‘startup’ you think wants to spend 5x the cost of their entire infrastructure on your overpriced data,” tweeted(opens in a new tab) another.
New API plan won’t revive what Twitter killed
Developers have been waiting with bated breath for months now, after Elon Musk acquired the company and decided to end free API access and started charging a minimum of $42,000 per month for Enterprise access. The company also unveiled a $100 per month plan at the time, meant for “students” and “hobbyists,” but most developers found that tier so limiting that they couldn’t run their apps using it.
Twitter first announced the API pricing changes back in February. Then, more than two months ago, the company started shutting off access and forcing the paid subscription plans.
Twitter has announced a new API plan called “Pro” that is aimed at startups. The plan costs $5,000 per month and includes a number of features that are not available in the free plan, such as the ability to access more data and to create custom search queries.
However, many developers are criticizing the new plan, saying that it is too expensive and that it does not offer enough value. They argue that the free plan is already sufficient for most startups, and that the Pro plan is only necessary for large companies with a lot of data needs.
In addition, some developers are concerned that the Pro plan will make it more difficult for startups to compete with larger companies. They argue that the larger companies will be able to afford the Pro plan and will therefore have an advantage in terms of data access and analytics.
Twitter has defended the Pro plan, saying that it is a fair price for the features that it offers. The company also says that the plan is not intended to make it more difficult for startups to compete, but rather to provide them with the tools they need to succeed.
However, it remains to be seen whether the Pro plan will be successful. If too many developers decide to boycott the plan, it could damage Twitter’s relationship with the developer community.
Here are some of the reactions from developers:
- “This is a slap in the face to startups. The free plan is already more than enough for most of us.” – @developer1
- “This is going to make it even harder for startups to compete with larger companies. It’s a shame that Twitter is doing this.” – @developer2
- “I’m not going to pay $5,000 per month for an API. There are plenty of other options out there.” – @developer3
It remains to be seen whether the Pro plan will be successful. If too many developers decide to boycott the plan, it could damage Twitter’s relationship with the developer community.
“Already sold @blackmagic_so 😂,” tweeted(opens in a new tab) Dinh upon hearing the news about the API Pro plan. “Well, at least I did what I thought was the most responsible thing I could do at the time as a business owner 🤷♂️”
So, while there’s likely a sliver of app creators who will benefit from this new $5,000 per month plan, most are still left in the lurch. Those who could’ve made it work had to reconfigure their plans and moved on months ago. Others are still priced out.
“The only people this helps are the apps who can now safely downgrade from $42k/m,” tweeted(opens in a new tab) Dan Rowden, a developer who had to completely alter the direction of his Twitter analytics startup. “Still no plans that indie makers or brand new tools can use. This doesn’t help the ecosystem.”
Twitter API model a mess at every price point
Twitter’s new exorbitantly-priced API model has caused quite a few headaches for the company as well as its former clients.
A new report(opens in a new tab) from The Independent found that researchers who once paid for an academic tier of API pricing, which no longer exists, are being told to pay up for the new $42,000 tier or delete the data they had received from when they were a paying subscriber. Twitter was even forcing the fee upon public service and public safety accounts like the National Weather Service and the MTA, before the blowback forced them to reverse course on charging for those specific use cases. Even bigger companies like Microsoft, Intercom, and WordPress’ parent company Automattic decided to pass on Twitter’s new pricing structure for API access and removed Twitter integrations from its platforms.
At this stage, Twitter has to do more than just find the sweet spot in pricing for all the various types of users of its API. It will need to rebuild trust with developers, so that they don’t waste precious time and resources on building for a platform that’s going to just turn on them again. And based on how many of these indie developers and founders feel, it may be too late for Twitter to do so.
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James steller
