Xvs
Pinterest
Pinterest: If you need visual discovery rather than a real-time public feed
X
The renamed and restructured Twitter, now merged into Elon Musks xAI, with paid verification and metered API access
As of 1 September 2026, X is free to use. Twitter renamed to X in 2023 after Elon Musks acquisition, and in 2025 X Corp itself was merged into xAI to form a combined entity. Softwr lists it under Social Media. X is made by X Corp (xAI Holdings), available on iOS, Android, Web.
Overview
What X does
X is the short-form public posting and messaging platform formerly known as Twitter. It carries text posts, images, video, live audio Spaces, and direct messages, and has added long-form posts, a creator monetisation program and, since the xAI merger, deep integration with the Grok chatbot inside the app itself. Three changes define the product commercially since the Musk acquisition. First, the rename from Twitter to X in 2023, alongside a broader push to make the app a general purpose platform rather than a text-first social network. Second, verification changed from a free editorial check mark to a paid subscription, X Premium, meaning the blue check now signals a paid subscriber rather than a vetted notable account, which materially changed how users read trust signals on the platform. Third, API pricing moved from a free or cheap tier usable by hobbyist developers and researchers to a tiered paid structure with meaningfully lower rate limits at the free level, which pushed most third-party apps, bots and academic research tools off the platform or onto paid plans costing hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars a month depending on volume. In March 2025, X Corp was acquired by xAI in an all-stock deal, combining the social platform with Musks AI company under one holding structure. Buyers of this fact are advertisers, developers and organisations deciding whether to build on X, who need to know that the platforms economics, trust signals and access policies changed structurally after 2022, not just cosmetically with the name.
What people use it for
- A brand or public figure needing verified status and reduced ads, now purchased rather than earned editorially
- A developer building a bot or analytics tool who needs to budget for paid API tiers rather than assume free access
- A researcher who previously used the free academic API and now needs to evaluate whether the paid tier is affordable
- An advertiser assessing brand safety given content moderation changes since the 2022 acquisition
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about X.
- Verification no longer signals identity or notability, only a paid subscription, so users cannot rely on the blue check the way they could before 2023.
- API access for developers moved from largely free to a paid tier structure, and the free tier is restrictive enough that most third-party apps and bots have shut down or moved elsewhere.
- Advertiser spend has been volatile since the ownership change, with several major advertisers pausing campaigns over content moderation concerns, which affects the reliability of ad-supported reach.
- The 2025 merger into xAI folds the platforms user data and infrastructure into an AI company, which is a materially different data relationship than existed under the previous corporate structure.
- Content moderation policy has shifted significantly since 2022, and organisations with brand safety requirements need to reassess the platform rather than assume Twitter-era policies still apply.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of X
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- XvsTumblr
Tumblr: If you want a community and blogging format with less real-time news focus
Pricing
What X costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Basic
Free
- Ad-supported feed, posting, following, direct messages
Premium
$8 /mo
- Verification badge, edit posts, reduced ads, longer posts, revenue share eligibility
Premium+
$40 /mo
- Largest reply prioritisation, ad-free timeline, higher usage limits
Capabilities
Features
Posts and reposts
Short-form public posts with images, video and polls
X Premium
Paid subscription unlocking verification, edit, longer posts and reduced ads
Grok integration
xAIs chatbot built into the app for search, summaries and content generation
Spaces
Live audio conversations hosted within the app
Direct messages
Encrypted option available for Premium subscribers
Creator monetisation
Ad revenue share and subscription tools for eligible creators
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is X the same company as Twitter?
It is the renamed and restructured successor. Twitter Inc became X Corp after Musks 2022 acquisition, and X Corp itself was merged into xAI in March 2025.
Is verification still free?
No. Verification is now part of the paid X Premium subscription, not a free editorial mark of notability.
Can I still use the API for free?
A limited free tier exists but is restrictive; meaningful volume access requires a paid tier, priced well above the old free and standard API access.
Keep looking
Where to go from X
- X alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- X pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- X badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Social Media softwareThe full category
- Best Social Media softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Social Media software for
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for X, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on X
X alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
X pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare X
Put it head to head with anything we hold
X badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Social Media software alternatives
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quoteSocial media publishing, inbox and moderation with rule-based comment hiding built in
Per user per month
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Per month by mention volume