X Premium: pricing, features and whether businesses need it

What is X Premium?

X Premium is the paid subscription for accounts on X, formerly Twitter. It comes in three tiers, Basic, Premium and Premium+, and adds features to the account: editing posts, longer posts and videos, a verification checkmark, analytics, fewer ads and access to the Grok assistant. X Ad Campaign is asked about it often, usually by businesses that assume they need it to advertise. They do not: advertising runs from a separate X Ads account.

That distinction frames the rest of the answer. Premium changes what an account can do when it posts and how it appears to others. It does not buy ad placements, and it does not change how ad campaigns are targeted, priced or reported. For a business, the useful questions are which Premium features matter for its own posting, and whether they are worth the price.

What does each X Premium tier cost and include?

Prices and features have changed several times, and they vary by country and by where you subscribe (web or app store). The U.S. web prices below are the ones most often reported; check the checkout page for your own market before deciding.

Premium+ has moved the most. TechCrunch reported that X raised it from sixteen to twenty-two dollars, then to forty within a few months³, and that in France and Germany it went from about twenty to nearly forty euros a month³. Sources that still quote the old prices are out of date, which is a good reason to verify at checkout.

What does a free account already do?

More than most businesses use. A free account can post text, images and video, reply and join conversations, see basic numbers for each post in the app, run a profile with a pinned post and a link, and, crucially, be connected to an X Ads account to run paid campaigns. Everything needed to test whether X brings customers is available without a subscription.

What the free account lacks is mostly convenience and visibility: no editing after posting, a shorter post length, no full analytics dashboard on desktop, more ads in the feed, and lower priority for replies in busy conversations. Those matter for accounts that post constantly and want to learn from it. They matter much less for a business whose main activity on X is advertising.

A sensible order is therefore free account first, ads second, Premium third: test whether X works for the business with a measured campaign, and only then decide whether the account’s day-to-day posting justifies paying for extra features.

What does the checkmark mean now?

Less than it used to. Before X’s subscription changes, a blue checkmark meant the platform had confirmed that a notable account was who it claimed to be. Today the blue checkmark comes with a Premium subscription, so it signals that the account pays, subject to some checks, rather than that it is well known or officially confirmed.

That changes its value for businesses. Some readers still treat a checkmark as a sign of legitimacy, especially those less familiar with the change. Others ignore it, and some have grown sceptical of accounts that rely on it. For a business, the reliable trust signals are the same as anywhere else: a consistent name, a clear profile, a link to the real website, and a history of useful posts.

Organizations that need an unmistakable official mark have the gold checkmark from Verified Organizations, which is tied to the organization rather than to an individual’s subscription.

What is Verified Organizations?

The business version of the same idea, priced far higher. Verified Organizations is the subscription for companies, non-profits and governments. Its entry plan costs two hundred dollars a month, or two thousand a year⁴, and includes a gold checkmark, priority support, Premium+ features for the main account and an advertising credit. A Full Access plan costs a thousand dollars a month⁴.

The gold checkmark marks an account as the official presence of an organization, and affiliated accounts (for staff or sub-brands) can show the organization’s badge. For a large brand that is impersonated often, that has real value. For a small business with one account, the cost is hard to justify, and the advertising credit only helps if the business was going to advertise anyway.

Do you need X Premium to advertise on X?

No. Advertising runs from an X Ads account, set up with a payment method and used to create campaigns, which is separate from any subscription. Campaign reporting (spend, results, cost per result, conversions) is in the ads manager and does not depend on Premium either.

Some advertisers subscribe anyway, for two reasons: the checkmark on the account that posts the ads, and the account analytics that help decide which organic posts to promote. Both are optional. The overview of how X ad campaigns work is in X Ads explained, and the steps of a first campaign in how to advertise on X.

What does Premium change for a business account?

A handful of things, some useful and some cosmetic.

Analytics. Hootsuite notes that the full analytics dashboard needs Premium on desktop⁵, while the app still shows basic numbers per post. For an account that posts often and wants to learn from trends, this is the most practical reason to subscribe. What those analytics show is covered in X Analytics.

Longer posts and editing. Posts beyond the standard length, longer videos and the ability to fix a typo after posting. Useful for businesses that publish explanations, announcements or video on X itself.

The checkmark. A blue checkmark now signals a paid subscription rather than an identity check by the platform, so its value as a trust signal is smaller than it once was. Some audiences still notice it; many no longer read much into it.

Reply priority. Replies from subscribers are ranked higher in conversations. For a brand that joins discussions in its field, this can make its replies more visible.

Fewer ads and Grok. Mostly a benefit to the person using the account, not to the business’s marketing.

Can Premium help a business grow its reach?

A little, and less than often claimed. Reply priority makes a business’s replies more visible in busy conversations, and longer posts and video can make content more useful. But the platform still shows posts according to how people respond to them. A subscription does not turn content people scroll past into content they share.

For reach beyond the existing followers, paid campaigns are the direct route: they put chosen posts in front of chosen audiences, with a measurable cost per result. A business that subscribes to Premium hoping for growth usually gets more from spending the same money on promoting its best posts. Shortcuts such as buying followers only make the account look worse to the platform and to readers.

What do creators get from Premium?

The ability to earn, under rules that changed recently. Premium has long been the entry ticket to X’s creator payouts. TechCrunch reported that X closed its Revenue Sharing program to new participants, paid existing ones through early September, and replaced it with Original Content Rewards⁶, which still requires a Premium subscription, with thresholds for verified followers and for impressions from verified users⁶. As the name says, the new program pays for original posts rather than reposted material. Creators can also offer paid subscriptions to their followers.

For businesses, these features rarely matter. A company’s goal on X is customers, not revenue from the platform, and the thresholds favour accounts whose posts draw large audiences of other subscribers. How the new program works is covered in how creators earn on X.

How should a business decide?

By looking at how it uses X.

Whoever runs the account day to day should make the call, because they are the ones who will use the features or not. Starting small is reasonable: a month of Basic or Premium for the account that posts most, judged on whether the analytics and features change what the team does. If nobody opens the analytics after the first week, the subscription can go. If the team finds itself checking which posts beat the account’s usual numbers and promoting those, it is earning its keep.

What should a business set up on X before paying for anything?

The free basics, because every paid feature works better on top of them.

• A complete profile. A clear name and handle, a recognisable logo, a bio that says what the business does and for whom, and a link to the most relevant page of the website.
• A pinned post. The one post every visitor sees first: what the business offers, an example of its work, or its most useful piece of content.
• A few recent posts. Enough to show the account is active and what it talks about. Visitors who arrive from an ad check this.
• An X Ads account. Opened in the business’s own name, with a payment method, even if no campaign is running yet.
• Measurement on the website. The X pixel or a server connection, installed with consent and checked with a test conversion, so the first campaign is measured from day one.

With those in place, a business can run a first campaign, see what a result costs, and then decide whether Premium’s extras are worth paying for. What a first campaign should cost is covered in what X ads cost.

When is paying for X Premium not worth it?

When the business only advertises. Every number that decides an ad budget is in the ads manager, without a subscription, and the money does more in the campaign budget.

When the account is quiet. Premium’s features reward accounts that post regularly. An account with a post a fortnight gains little from analytics trends, reply priority or longer posts.

When the hope is a shortcut to growth. A checkmark and reply priority help good content travel a little further; they do not create an audience. Content worth following, promoted to the right people, is what builds one.

Quick answers

What is X Premium?

X Premium is the paid subscription on X, in three tiers: Basic, Premium and Premium+. It adds features such as editing posts, longer posts, a verification checkmark, analytics, fewer ads and access to the Grok assistant. It is separate from advertising: X Ad Campaign runs ad campaigns in a business’s X Ads account, which does not depend on a Premium subscription.

How much does X Premium cost?

In the U.S., Basic is listed at about three dollars a month and Premium at about eight dollars a month on the web, with yearly plans cheaper per month. Premium+ was raised to forty dollars a month after two increases in quick succession. Prices differ by country, currency and app store, so check the checkout page for your own market.

Do businesses need X Premium or Verified Organizations?

A business that posts regularly may find Premium useful for analytics, longer posts and the checkmark. Verified Organizations adds a gold checkmark and affiliated accounts for companies and is priced far higher. Neither is needed to advertise: ad campaigns run from the X Ads account, and their reporting is in the ads manager.

When is paying for X Premium not worth it?

When the account rarely posts, when the business only advertises, or when the main hope is more reach. Premium gives replies some priority and unlocks analytics, but it does not replace content people want to read. For an advertiser, the same money usually does more in the ad budget.