X (Twitter) API Alternative for Monitoring Accounts and Keywords

Short answer: X's official API charges for meaningful read access, and its prices change often (check X's developer site for current tiers). If your use case is "tell my app when these accounts post or these keywords appear", AyeWatch's API does that: create X monitors with a REST call and receive new tweets on a webhook. It is not a full X API. You can't post, read timelines or pull historical tweets.

What it covers

You need	AyeWatch
New posts from a public account	Yes, x_profile
New tweets matching a search	Yes, x_search, with X search operators
New posts in an X Community	Yes, x_community
AI filter on top	Yes, inputs.filter
Posting, DMs, likes, follower lists, history	No

Create a monitor with one call

Create an API key in Settings → API (Pro and Pro+), then:

curl -X POST https://ayewatch.ai/api/v1/topics \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer aw_live_YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "source": {
      "mode": "x_search",
      "inputs": { "query": "\"lumen crm\" -from:lumencrm", "filter": "complaints or bug reports" }
    },
    "interval": "1_hour"
  }'

For an account, use "mode": "x_profile" with "inputs": { "handle": "https://x.com/northwindlabs" }. Then set your endpoint once with PUT /api/v1/webhook or in Settings → Webhooks. See the Topics API and webhook guide.

What arrives

The first check saves the current posts as a starting point, so you are not flooded with old ones. After that, every check that finds something new sends one alert. The headline is the post itself, or "3 new from …" when several land at once, with a link to each post and its text.

What it costs

Usage is in credits, not API calls. An X check is 2 credits, 3 with the filter. API requests are limited to 120 a minute.

Check every	Credits a day	Plan that fits
Daily	2	Free Preview to try it, then Pro
A few times a day	8	Pro
Hourly	48	Pro+

Plans: Free Preview gives you 3 credits to try a monitor on a daily check. Pro is $9 a month for 500 credits and checks as often as hourly. Pro+ is $19 a month for 1,500 credits and adds ASAP mode. Failed checks are refunded, and the form shows the exact daily credit use before you save.