X Plus vs Premium: what the $8 and $30 plans get you
X, formerly Twitter, replaced its paid plans in October 2026. Plus costs $8 a month and Premium costs $30. What each one includes, what the extra $22 buys, and what to check before you leave an old X Premium plan.
On October 12, 2026, X swapped out its paid tiers for new subscribers with The X Subscription, a unified plan that bundles access to X, Grok, and Cursor. For most users, the decision now boils down to Plus at $8 monthly versus Premium at $30.
If your primary activity is posting on X, Plus handles the essentials: the verification checkmark, Articles, analytics, and a reply boost. Premium justifies its additional $22 cost if you desire an almost ad-free feed, a stronger reply boost, access to Grok Bot, or Cursor’s cloud agents.
The naming can be confusing. The new Premium is not the legacy $8 X Premium. Instead, it inherits the advantages of the former Premium+, while the new Plus is priced at what the old Premium used to be.
We do not sell either plan. The prices listed here are US list prices before tax, current as of November 2026. Since X has frequently altered these plans, always verify the details before purchasing.
Plus and Premium side by side
| Plus | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $8 | $30 |
| Yearly price | $80 | $300 |
| Checkmark | Yes | Yes |
| Reply boost | Yes | Higher |
| Ads | Fewer in the timeline | None on most surfaces |
| Articles, Advanced Analytics, Radar Search | Yes | Yes |
| Included AI usage | Base | 4x Plus |
| Grok Bot | No | Yes |
| Cursor | Grok models only | Cloud agents, other models billed separately |
| Team seats | No | $30 per seat |
Pricing and usage data are sourced from xAI’s pricing docs, while feature details come from their plan comparison. Usage is only published as a multiplier, meaning no page explicitly defines how many messages “base” usage entails.
What the extra $22 buys on X
Fewer ads. Plus reduces the number of ads shown in your timeline. Premium eliminates them from most surfaces, though not every single one.
A higher reply boost. Paid accounts receive a ranking advantage in replies, with Premium users ranked above Plus users. X does not publish specific metrics for either tier, making it impossible to calculate the exact value of that difference.
Probably X Pro. X Pro, formerly TweetDeck, moved behind Premium+ in March 2026. xAI states that Premium includes “full X Premium+ benefits”, which should encompass it, yet the plan comparison does not explicitly name X Pro. If this is your reason for upgrading, verify its inclusion at checkout.
More reach is unproven. Buffer’s study of 18.8 million posts found roughly 600 impressions per post on the old Premium and over 1,550 on Premium+. Buffer notes that follower count alone doesn’t explain this gap, but the study compared different accounts and did not test users before and after upgrading. Furthermore, the data concludes in August 2025, prior to the existence of these current plans. Engagement rates showed minimal difference, hovering around 0.49% and 0.53%.
Payouts look the same. X replaced revenue sharing with Original Content Rewards in September 2026. Reports indicate the threshold is 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions within 90 days, with Plus qualifying for this. We have found no evidence that one plan pays out more than the other.
What the extra $22 buys in AI
Premium includes the benefits of SuperGrok and Cursor Pro, offering four times the usage allowance compared to Plus. Grok and Cursor draw from a single weekly pool, meaning heavy coding usage reduces the quota available for chat and image generation.
Claude and GPT models within Cursor are excluded from this pool. They are billed at API list prices starting from the first use. If you already subscribe to another AI tool, a significant portion of Premium’s value may overlap with your existing expenses.
What neither plan changes
Neither tier alters the cost of the X API. The API bills per request, and xAI’s plan pages make no mention of API credits. Consequently, any tool posting via the API incurs the same cost regardless of your subscription level.
One limitation is ours: postmoderno currently publishes up to 280 characters per post on X, even if your plan permits longer posts.
If you already pay for an old plan
You don’t need to take action. xAI states that “nothing changes” for existing X Premium subscribers, who retain their current plan unless they choose to switch.
| Old plan | Old price | Closest new plan | New price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $3 | Plus | $8 |
| Premium | $8 | Plus | $8 |
| Premium+ | $40 | Premium | $30 |
xAI only explicitly confirms the Premium+ match. The other two rows represent our interpretation of the plans, and their guide does not mention Basic.
Premium+ subscribers have the strongest case for switching, as they receive the same X benefits for $10 less while gaining access to Grok and Cursor. For users on the old $8 Premium, the case is weaker. Plus costs the same but adds Radar Search and AI usage; however, without published figures on reply boost metrics, we cannot confirm if it matches your current experience.
Read xAI’s switching guide first, as this step is irreversible:
- The switch is permanent. xAI states it “can’t be undone, and Support can’t undo it for you.”
- Your old plan is cancelled. Refunds for unused time are processed separately, meaning you pay the new plan in full at checkout.
- A new billing cycle begins on the day you switch.
- If you subscribed via the App Store, Apple determines your refund. If you used Google Play, verify that the old plan has stopped renewing.
- Only personal X accounts can connect. Accounts managed by an organization, including affiliates, are ineligible.
Which one to pick
- Plus if you want the checkmark, Articles, and analytics, but do not require heavy AI usage.
- Premium if you spend hours daily on X, or if you intend to use Grok Bot or Cursor’s agents. It costs $264 more annually on monthly billing, or $220 more on yearly.
- Stay on the old Premium if it meets your needs, as you cannot return to it once switched.
- Switch from the old Premium+ if you have confirmed X Pro is included, or if you do not use it.
A paid plan will not post for you automatically. To schedule posts by asking your AI assistant, this guide provides the necessary steps.