# Twitter Search API: Search Tweets by Keyword, User and Date

The Twitter (X) search API is a pair of endpoints that return posts matching a query: recent search covers the last 7 days, and full-archive search reaches back to March 2006.

[![apidojo](/blog/authors/apidojo.png)**Apidojo** *15+ years of experience in data retrieval.*](/blog/authors/apidojo/)

**30 September 2026** Published

**4 min** Read

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**The Twitter (X) search API is a pair of endpoints that return posts matching a query: recent search covers the last 7 days, and full-archive search reaches back to March 2006.** Both charge $0.005 per post read on pay-per-use plans. A scraper API such as apidojo’s Tweet Scraper V2 covers the same history for $0.40 per 1,000 tweets.

This guide explains both X endpoints, their query operators, limits and costs, then shows how to run the same searches through apidojo’s actors on Apify.

## What Are the X API Search Endpoints?

**The X API has two search endpoints: `GET /2/tweets/search/recent` for the last 7 days and `GET /2/tweets/search/all` for the full archive.** Recent search is available to all developers; full-archive search is available to pay-per-use and Enterprise customers ([X API docs](https://docs.x.com/x-api/posts/search)).

| Endpoint | Time range | Posts per request | Query length | Access |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| /2/tweets/search/recent | Last 7 days | Up to 100 | 512 characters (4,096 Enterprise) | All developers |
| /2/tweets/search/all | Back to March 2006 | Up to 500 | 1,024 characters (4,096 Enterprise) | Pay-per-use, Enterprise |

Full-archive search returns the last 30 days by default; set `start_time` and `end_time` to reach older posts ([X API quickstart](https://docs.x.com/x-api/posts/search/quickstart/full-archive-search.md)). The 7-day window is explained in the recent search API 7-day limit, and archive retrieval in how to get historical tweets with an API.

## How Much Does the X Search API Cost?

**The X search API costs $0.005 for each post returned, billed per resource, with a cap of 3 million post reads per monthly billing cycle on pay-per-use plans.** Requests for the same post within one 24-hour UTC window are charged once, and higher volumes require an Enterprise plan ([X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing)).

| Posts read | X API cost at $0.005 each | Tweet Scraper V2 at $0.40 per 1,000 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 10,000 | $50 | $4 |
| 100,000 | $500 | $40 |
| 1,000,000 | $5,000 | $400 |
| 3,000,000 (X monthly cap) | $15,000 | $1,200 |

One recent search call that returns 100 posts costs $0.50. Credits are prepaid in the Developer Console, where you can also set a spending limit per billing cycle.

## How Do You Build an X API Search Query?

**You build an X API search query from keywords and operators joined by spaces, where a space means AND, `OR` means either, and `-` negates.** The API’s operators differ from X web search; for example, the API uses `-is:retweet` where the web uses `-filter:retweets` ([X API docs](https://docs.x.com/x-api/posts/search)).

```
(AI OR "artificial intelligence") lang:en -is:retweet has:links
```

| Goal | X API operator | X web search operator |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Posts by an account | from:NASA | from:NASA |
| Exclude reposts | -is:retweet | -filter:retweets |
| Only replies | is:reply | filter:replies |
| Posts with links | has:links | filter:links |
| Posts with media | has:media | filter:media |
| Verified authors | is:verified | filter:verified |
| One thread | conversation_id:ID | conversation_id:ID |
| Date range | start_time, end_time parameters | since:, until: |

The web operators, which apidojo’s actors use, are listed in the [Twitter advanced search operators](/blog/twitter-search/advanced-search-operators/) reference.

## How Do You Call the X Search API?

**You call the X search API with an HTTP GET request that carries your query and an app bearer token.** A recent search for NASA’s original posts:

```
curl "https://api.x.com/2/tweets/search/recent?query=from%3ANASA%20-is%3Aretweet&max_results=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN"
```

The response returns up to 100 posts and a `next_token` for the next page. Before the first call you need a developer account, a Project and App in the Developer Console, and your app’s keys and tokens ([X API docs](https://docs.x.com/x-api/posts/search)).

## How Do You Search Tweets Through apidojo’s API?

**You search tweets through apidojo’s API by running Tweet Scraper V2 on Apify with your X web search query in `searchTerms`, and reading the results from the run’s dataset.** The query uses web operators, so `since:` and `until:` set the dates ([Apify](https://apify.com/apidojo/tweet-scraper)).

```
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~tweet-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchTerms": ["from:NASA since:2015-01-01 until:2016-01-01 -filter:retweets"], "sort": "Latest", "maxItems": 500}'
```

The call waits for the run and returns the posts as JSON, each with `id`, `url`, `text`, `createdAt`, engagement counts and an `author` object. Tweet Scraper V2 needs at least 50 tweets per query and a paid Apify plan for API use; small queries, single posts and threads go to [Twitter Scraper Unlimited](https://apify.com/apidojo/twitter-scraper-lite).

## X API vs Tweet Scraper V2 for Search

**The X API suits apps that must use X’s official data contract; Tweet Scraper V2 suits research and data collection where cost and archive depth matter more.** The table compares them on 5 points.

| Point | X API search | Tweet Scraper V2 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $0.005 per post | $0.40 per 1,000 tweets |
| History | 7 days, or full archive on pay-per-use | Same history as X web search, back to 2006 |
| Monthly volume | 3 million post reads cap | No monthly cap; 1 concurrent run |
| Operators | API operator set | X web search operators |
| Setup | Developer account, app, bearer token | Apify account and token |

The full decision guide is X API vs Twitter scraper API, and fetching one post by its ID is covered in how to get tweet data by ID with an API.

## The scrapers behind this

-   [Tweet Scraper V2 Tweets from searches, profiles, Lists and URLs; 49–64 tweets/sec; minimum 50 per query $0.40 / 1K tweets](/scrapers/twitter-scraper/)

## Questions people ask

### Is the Twitter search API free?

No, new developers pay per use: $0.005 per post read, from prepaid credits ([X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing)).

### Can the Twitter search API return tweets older than 7 days?

Yes, through full-archive search on pay-per-use or Enterprise access. Recent search stops at 7 days.

### Does the X API support min\_faves?

No, `min_faves:` is an X web search operator. apidojo's actors accept it because they run web search queries.

### Where do you start building?

Start with [how to scrape Twitter data in 2026](/blog/twitter-scraping/how-to-scrape-twitter/) for the actor choice, or the [apidojo Twitter Scraper](/scrapers/twitter-scraper/) page.

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## [Apidojo](/blog/authors/apidojo/)

15+ years of experience in data retrieval.

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-   🏯 15+ years of experience in data retrieval.
-   💰 Cheapest prices, qualified data.
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-   [apidojo.io](https://apidojo.io)

## More in this cluster

-   [X API vs scraping: endpoints, limits and costs What the official X search endpoints return, what they cost per post, and when a scraper covers the same history for less.](/blog/twitter-api/)