xAI changed X Search billing from $5 per 1,000 tool calls to $5 per 1,000 posts fetched and $10 per 1,000 user profiles fetched. Parent and quoted posts count separately, so one search or thread request can now create many billable units. Web Search remains priced per tool call.
xAI makes X Search billing scale with fetched posts and profiles
2026-09-22Verified announcementWATCH
xAI changed X Search billing from $5 per 1,000 tool calls to $5 per 1,000 posts fetched and $10 per 1,000 user profiles fetched. Parent and quoted posts count separately, so one search or thread request can now create many billable units. Web Search remains priced per tool call.
Imported from the existing research archive. Migration preserves the recorded judgment and is not a fresh verification.
What this means for you
For teams using X Search in research or monitoring agents, request count no longer predicts spend. Add returned-post and returned-profile counters, cap result breadth, and replay representative workloads before accepting the new cost model. Thread fetches and broad searches deserve particular scrutiny because nested posts can multiply the bill without increasing the number of API calls.
Evidence & related material
Technical details & scores
| Effective At | 2026-09-21T19:00:00Z |
|---|---|
| Old Price | $5 per 1,000 X Search calls |
| New Post Price | $5 per 1,000 posts fetched |
| New Profile Price | $10 per 1,000 user profiles fetched |
| Counting Rule | Search results, thread posts, parent posts and quoted posts each count; user-search profiles each count |
| Unchanged Tool | Web Search remains $5 per 1,000 calls |
Technical impact 1
Engineering value 5
Adoption signal 3
Maturity 5
Verification cost 1
Risk 4