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X API Owned Reads: What Qualifies for $0.001 (2026)

X API Owned Reads bill your own data at $0.001 per item. X's exact rule, all 12 endpoints, the token each needs, what doesn't qualify, and 3 job costs.


Published · Updated · 6 min read

Cover image: Your own data, a tenth of a cent

X API Owned Reads are X's $0.001 rate for reading your own data, when your own account owns the developer app making the call.

This is for developers pricing jobs on their own X (Twitter) account. You get X's exact rule, all 12 endpoints, the token each needs, and three real costs.

An Owned Read is your own id, your own user token and your own app:

curl "https://api.x.com/2/users/$MY_USER_ID/followers?max_results=1000" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MY_USER_ACCESS_TOKEN"
$0.001per Owned Read, as of October 2026
12endpoints that qualify
10xcheaper than a $0.010 follower read

What X API Owned Reads are, in X's words

X's pricing page calls Owned Reads "requests made by your own developer app for your own data." The endpoints qualify "when {id} matches the authenticated user and that user is the owner of the developer app."

Both parts must hold. Your posts read through someone else's app don't count, and neither does a user of your app reading their own bookmarks.

X announced the rate on its developer forum on 16 April 2026, and it took effect four days later. The first version said "$0.001 per request." By May it said "per resource," like the pricing page: you pay per item returned.

The 12 endpoints that qualify, and what each saves

Each costs $0.001 per item as an Owned Read. Here is X's standard rate for the same items, as of October 2026:

Endpoints Returns Standard rate App-only token?
tweets and mentions Posts $0.005 Accepted
liked_tweets and bookmarks Posts $0.005 Refused
followers and following Accounts $0.010 Accepted
owned_lists, followed_lists, list_memberships Lists $0.005 Accepted
pinned_lists Lists $0.005 Refused
blocking and muting Accounts $0.001 Refused

Blocks and mutes gain nothing, since X's rate card already lists Block: Read and Mute: Read at $0.001. Followers gain the most.

Which token turns a call into an Owned Read?

You need a user-context token for the account that owns the app. X's API reference accepts two kinds on all 12 endpoints:

  • OAuth 1.0a access token and secret. X's getting-access page says these "represent the account that owns the app."
  • OAuth 2.0 user token, from the PKCE sign-in, as the app's owner. It lasts two hours without the offline.access scope.

An app-only bearer token has no signed-in user to match {id}. Seven endpoints accept one anyway, and X doesn't say what those calls bill, so assume the standard rate.

The other five refuse it. We sent a made-up bearer token to the bookmarks endpoint on 22 October 2026. X's answer, trimmed:

{
  "title": "Unsupported Authentication",
  "detail": "Authenticating with OAuth 2.0 Application-Only is forbidden for this endpoint.  Supported authentication types are [OAuth 1.0a User Context, OAuth 2.0 User Context].",
  "status": 403
}

Our guide to getting an X API key shows where each credential lives.

What doesn't count as an Owned Read?

Anything outside the rule or the 12 paths bills at the standard rate:

  • Other people's data. Another account's followers cost $0.010 each, even with your token.
  • Users of your app. They don't own it, so their bookmarks bill as posts.
  • Other routes to your data. Search, post lookup by id and your home timeline aren't listed.
  • Posts in your Lists. An X staff reply on 22 April 2026 said they charge "the standard $0.005 per post read."
  • Bookmark folders and writes. Neither is on the list.

The second point decides most business cases: a bookmark tool for the public pays the post rate.

X API Owned Reads pricing for three real jobs

Multiply the items returned by $0.001. These assume your account owns the app, at X's prices as of October 2026:

Your job          Owned Reads             Standard rate
800 bookmarks     800 × $0.001 = $0.80    800 × $0.005 = $4.00
3,200 posts       3,200 × $0.001 = $3.20  3,200 × $0.005 = $16
10,000 followers  10,000 × $0.001 = $10   10,000 × $0.010 = $100

Why those sizes? X's older docs said the bookmarks endpoint returns your latest 800. Its timelines guide caps your posts at the latest 3,200.

All three exports, X API prices as of October 2026
Standard read rates$120.00
Owned Reads$14.00

Repeat jobs add up, because X's once-a-day billing resets at midnight UTC. Snapshot your 10,000 followers daily, and each day bills again. That's about $300 a month.

These post reads still count toward the 3 million monthly cap. X's usage page lists timelines, liked posts and bookmarks, with no exception for Owned Reads.

What X's docs leave unclear

We found three gaps, as of 22 October 2026:

  • The dashboard label. X's usage pages show no Owned Reads line. In April, a developer saw bookmarks billed as Post reads at $0.005, and an X staff reply said the rate was "rolling out progressively."
  • Bearer tokens on your own id. X doesn't say what /tweets or /followers bill with one.
  • The usage endpoint. GET /2/usage/tweets counts posts per day, with no price field.

So check one small call's cost in the console before a big export. Our X API usage guide covers both usage endpoints.

Where Weir fits, and when not to use it

We run Weir, a read-only API for public X and Reddit data, so weigh this section knowing that.

Weir never qualifies for Owned Read prices, because it reads public data with its own access, never your X token. It can't see bookmarks, likes, mutes, blocks or protected accounts. For that private data, Owned Reads are the only route.

Weir fits when the account isn't yours. It bills one credit per follower, plus one per page of about 70:

Another account's 10,000 followers, October 2026
X API, standard rate$100
Weir, $5 packabout $2
TwitterAPI.iofrom $0.10
  • The data is private. Bookmarks and likes need your own X token.
  • It's your account and you have an X app. Weir's per-follower rate is lower, but X gives private data and first-party terms in one token.
  • Follower lists are your whole job. TwitterAPI.io's listed price is lower than ours, as the chart shows.

FAQ

What are owned reads in the X API?

They are X's discounted reads of your own data, live since 20 April 2026. Twelve endpoints under /2/users/{id}/ cost $0.001 per item. The catch: {id} must be the signed-in user, and that user must own the developer app.

How much do X API owned reads cost?

$0.001 per resource, or $1 per 1,000 items, as of October 2026. A post normally costs $0.005 and a follower $0.010. The same item read twice in one UTC day bills once.

Do owned reads work with a bearer token?

Not by X's rule, which needs an authenticated user. Use your app's OAuth 1.0a access token and secret, or an OAuth 2.0 user token. Five of the 12 endpoints refuse app-only tokens outright.

Can my app's users get the $0.001 rate?

No. The signed-in user must also own the developer app. Your users read their data through your app, so standard rates apply, such as $0.005 per bookmarked post.

Sources

All checked on 22 October 2026. We read docs.x.com as Markdown, adding .md:

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