# X campaigns, and what the X API costs

> Campaigns and line items on X with promoted-only posts, keyword, interest and location targeting and image or video ads, plus the X API usage that posting and messages cost, included per plan with packs for more.

Demander creates X campaigns and line items from your plan and posts promoted-only ads with your images or video. X bills its API by the call, so organic posts and direct messages count against an amount of X usage that each plan includes.

## Objectives Demander sets

| Plan objective | X objective | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Awareness | Reach | Maximum reach |
| Traffic and retargeting | Website clicks | Link clicks |
| Engagement | Engagements | Post engagement |
| Video views | Video views | Video ads only |
| Leads and conversions | Website clicks | With a website conversion goal when your X web event tag id is in the connection |

## How campaigns are built

Media goes up first: up to 4 images per post (JPG, PNG or WEBP, 5 MB each; a carousel posts its first four cards) or one video (MP4 or MOV, up to 500 MB and 10 minutes), added to the ad account’s media library. If X refuses a file, nothing else has been created yet.

Then the campaign is created paused under your funding instrument, with a line item, its targeting and promoted-only posts that carry the landing URL in the text; website cards are not used. Targeting covers location (country, or the office city in geofence plans), language, broad keywords and X’s numeric interest codes.

## X API usage: what it costs and what each plan includes

X moved its API to pay-per-use pricing with no subscriptions. Demander pays X and meters every billed call per workspace at X’s list prices.

| Item | Price or amount |
| --- | --- |
| Post | $0.015 |
| Post that contains a link | $0.20 |
| Direct message sent | $0.015 |
| Direct message event read | $0.010 per event |
| Included each month | $5 on Starter, $15 on Growth and Performance, $40 on Scale, $5 per Agency workspace, $3 for the whole trial |
| More usage | X API pack: $20 of usage for €29 a month |

When the month’s amount runs out, Demander stops calling X: the post fails with the reason, X messages go to a person, and message polling pauses until you add a pack or the month turns. See [pricing](https://demander.to/pricing/).

## Conversions, audiences and bidding

- **No offline upload to X.** CRM stages go back as offline conversions to Google, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok and Reddit. Demander sends none to X; pipeline from X clicks still shows in its own attribution through the UTM parameters on every ad.
- **No list sync.** Stage lists, customer exclusions and lookalikes do not sync to X, so retargeting by list runs on LinkedIn, Meta and Google.
- **Bids per line item.** A maximum CPC for website clicks, a maximum CPM for reach, or a target cost on website conversion goals that X keeps within about 20 percent on average. A bid never exceeds the campaign’s daily budget, and clearing it returns to X’s automatic bidding.

## Access and approvals

- **What you do.** Authorise your X account and pick the ad account; the funding instrument’s currency is detected. The X Ads API accepts only OAuth 1.0a user context, so this is a separate connection from organic posting, which uses OAuth 2.0.
- **What X requires of Demander.** Ads API access is approved through X’s access form, separately from the developer app; X asks to allow up to 3 business days.
- **One open question.** Image and video ads upload through the X API v2 media endpoints. X’s published price list does not say whether those uploads are billed for an app approved for ads; if X bills them, they come out of the same usage amount.

> **Direct messages on X.** X’s automation rules forbid unsolicited bulk DMs. Demander replies only to people who wrote first, AI-written replies need X’s approval setting, and cold first messages are drafts that a person sends, at most 20 a day per sender.

## Questions

**Why does a post with a link cost more?**

X sets the price: $0.20 for a post that contains a URL and $0.015 for one without. Demander counts each at X’s list price against your included amount.

**Do promoted ads use up our X usage amount?**

X charges nothing extra for Ads API calls. Organic posts, DMs sent and DM events read are what count. Whether the media uploads behind image and video ads are billed is still open, as described above.

**Can we run X Ads on Starter?**

Yes. Starter connects up to three ad platforms of your choice, and Growth and Scale connect all eight. See [pricing](https://demander.to/pricing/).

**Will Starter need an X API pack?**

A typical active workspace uses $5 to $10 of X usage a month, about 20 posts (most with a link) plus some DM traffic. Growth and Scale rarely need a pack; heavy X posting on Starter does.

## Related

- [Pricing](https://demander.to/pricing/)
- [Organic social](https://demander.to/features/organic-social/)
- [Reddit Ads](https://demander.to/platforms/reddit/)
- [Paid campaigns](https://demander.to/features/paid-campaigns/)
- [Organic networks](https://demander.to/platforms/organic-networks/)

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Source: https://demander.to/platforms/x/ · Demander · reviewed 2026-10-02