Free alternatives to the X (Twitter) API

3 services, checked weekly

The X API, formerly the Twitter API, is paid per use: you buy credits before you can read or post. These social networks have open APIs that are free to use, and public posts can be read without a key.

ServiceCategoryAPI keyFormatsFree use
Bluesky APISocial mediaNot neededJSONFree, no key needed for public data.
Mastodon APISocial mediaNot neededJSONFree, no key needed for public data; posting needs an OAuth token from the server.
Lemmy APISocial mediaNot neededJSON, RSSFree, no key needed for reading.

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