#Seven reasons teams pick Sorsa API
Tweets about 14x cheaper.
One Sorsa API request returns 100 tweets, so 1,000 tweets cost from $0.014, against $0.20 on SocialData, which bills each tweet in a batch.
Followers about 28x cheaper.
A Sorsa API follower page holds 200 profiles for one request, from $0.007 per 1,000 followers, while SocialData charges $0.0002 for every follower it returns.
Ten times the rate limit.
Every Sorsa API plan runs at 20 requests per second, which is 1,200 a minute; SocialData allows 120 requests a minute, shared across all its endpoints.
A check for every campaign step.
Follow, retweet, quote, comment and Community checks cost from $0.0014 each on Sorsa API; SocialData charges $0.004 for a follow check and $0.008 for a retweet or reply check, and has no quote or Community check.
100 free requests that never expire.
A new Sorsa API account can export up to 20K followers with no card and no deadline, while SocialData's FAQ says it does not offer a free plan.
40 MCP tools for AI agents.
Sorsa API's MCP server gives an agent 40 read-only tools, with batches of 100 and five checks; SocialData's hosted server has 14 tools and a single follow check.
99.9% uptime in the contract.
Sorsa API writes the guarantee into Section 7.1 of its Terms of Service on every paid plan, and SocialData's terms say it shall not guarantee availability.
#Ten checks, scored with values
The checks are the eight from how to choose an X data API, plus a guarantee in the terms and a contract for serious volume. The one tie is account safety: neither API asks for your X login or can post from your account.
Sorsa API passes all ten checks; SocialData passes one.
| Check | Sorsa API10 of 10 | SocialData1 of 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1,000 results | from $0.014 per 1,000 tweets | $0.20 per 1,000 tweets |
| Batch lookups | 100 tweets for one request | 100 per request, each billed |
| Rate limit on the smallest plan | 20 requests per second | 120 requests a minute |
| A free test with no deadline | 100 requests, never expire | no free plan, per its FAQ |
| What it needs from your X account | nothing: read-only | nothing: read-only |
| Track record | in production since 2022 | domain registered in 2023 |
| An endpoint for every step | five checks, from $0.0014 | three checks, $0.004–$0.008 |
| A predictable bill | a set monthly price | a balance spent item by item |
| A guarantee in the terms | 99.9% uptime, a price lock | no availability guarantee |
| A contract for serious volume | an SLA from 1M a month | a custom rate on request |
#Same public data, two ways to bill it
SocialData and Sorsa API sell the same kind of access: public X data over REST, one API key, no X developer account and no write endpoints. Neither key can touch your X account, so the comparison comes down to three things: what a request costs, how many you can send, and what the terms promise.
SocialData bills the item. A search page of 20 tweets costs $0.004, a batch of 100 tweets $0.02, and a page of followers is billed follower by follower, at $0.0002 each. Sorsa API bills the request: the same search page, the same 100 tweets and a page of 200 followers each cost one request, from $0.0014.
The fuller the response, the wider the gap, which is why it is widest on the jobs that read the most data: restoring datasets, exporting audiences and refreshing profile lists. In the receipts below, SocialData's prices are its published rates for each item, and Sorsa API's are "from" the best plan rate, $1.40 per 1,000 requests; every plan's own rate is on its pricing page. Times assume each API's default rate limit and full pages.
#Five jobs, two receipts each
Restore 1M tweets from a list of IDs
A research team holds 1M tweet IDs from a published dataset and needs every tweet back with its author.
Sorsa API
Total: from $14
- 10K requests, 100 tweets eachfrom $14
- Time at 20 requests per secondabout 8 minutes
Uptime guaranteed in the terms99.9%
SocialData
Total: $200
- 1M tweets at $0.0002 each$200
- Time at 120 requests a minuteabout 83 minutes
Uptime guaranteed in the termsnone
Export the 1M followers of a brand
A growth team maps the audience of a brand account with 1M followers, profile by profile.
Sorsa API
Total: from $7
- 5K requests, 200 followers eachfrom $7
- Time at 20 requests per secondabout 4 minutes
Takes the account's handleyes
SocialData
Total: $200
- 1M followers at $0.0002 each$200
- What the followers call takesthe numeric user ID
Takes the account's handleno, a numeric ID
Verify 10K giveaway entries
A campaign confirms that each of 10K entrants follows the brand and replied to the launch post.
Sorsa API
Total: from $28
- 20K requests, a follow and a reply check per entryfrom $28
- Time at 20 requests per secondabout 17 minutes
- Entrants' handlesused as they are
Quote and Community checksincluded
SocialData
Total: $122
- 10K follow checks at $0.004$40
- 10K reply checks at $0.008$80
- 10K handles turned into numeric IDs$2
- Time at 120 requests a minuteabout 2.8 hours
Quote and Community checksnone
Refresh 500K profiles every week
A lead-scoring product re-reads 500K profiles each week to track follower counts and bios.
Sorsa API
Total: from $28
- 20K requests a month, four refreshes of 5Kfrom $28
- Time per refresh at 20 requests per secondabout 4 minutes
Price locked while you stay subscribedyes
SocialData
Total: $400
- 2M profiles a month at $0.0002 each$400
- Time per refresh at 120 requests a minuteabout 42 minutes
Price locked while you stay subscribedno price clause in its terms
Pull 500K brand mentions from search
A marketing team collects every public tweet that names its product, with X search operators, back to the launch.
Sorsa API
Total: from $35
- 25K search requests, about 20 tweets eachfrom $35
- Time at 20 requests per secondabout 21 minutes
- Search historyback to 2006
Free requests to test the query first100
SocialData
Total: $100
- 500K tweets at $0.0002 each$100
- Time at 120 requests a minuteabout 3.5 hours
Free requests to test the query firstno free plan
#The 120-a-minute ceiling
SocialData's rate-limit page gives each user 120 requests a minute, shared across all endpoints. Sorsa API gives every key 20 requests per second, which is 1,200 a minute, on every plan from the smallest one up. A backfill feels the difference first: 1M tweets by ID take 10K requests on either API, about 8 minutes on Sorsa API and about 1 hour 23 minutes at 120 a minute.
SocialData's limit is shared across all endpoints, so a backfill and a live job draw on the same 120 a minute. Higher limits come on request on both sides, and on Sorsa API they start from the Platform plan. A new Sorsa API key needs no request at all: it starts at 20 per second, up to 2,000 tweets a second through the batch endpoints.
#SocialData's terms, next to Sorsa API's
We read SocialData's Terms in full. They name no company, no address and no governing law, and they say nothing about prices; Sorsa API's Terms add a price lock, so your plan's price does not go up while your subscription stays active. Four lines in SocialData's own words, each next to Sorsa API's:
Uptime
SocialData
“We shall not guarantee or be liable for the availability of the Website or Services”
Full captureSeen Nov 3, 2026 on socialdata.tools/legal/terms-and-conditions (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/socialdata_tools_legal_terms_and_conditions Sorsa API
Sorsa API guarantees 99.9% uptime on every paid plan in Section 7.1 of its Terms of Service, with bonus requests if a month falls below 99.5%.
Liability
SocialData
“LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID TO US BY YOU FOR THE SERVICES GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM”
Full captureSeen Nov 3, 2026 on socialdata.tools/legal/terms-and-conditions (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/socialdata_tools_legal_terms_and_conditions Sorsa API
Sorsa API's cap is the greater of three months of fees or $100, in Section 15.2.
Who you contract with
SocialData
“SocialData.Tools offers SocialData.Tools services to you”
Full captureSeen Nov 3, 2026 on socialdata.tools/legal/terms-and-conditions (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/socialdata_tools_legal_terms_and_conditions Sorsa API
Sorsa API's Terms open with the company behind them, Scouts Labs Inc, and its registered office.
Rate limit
SocialData
“Each user has a limit of 120 requests per minute shared across all endpoints.”
Full captureSeen Nov 3, 2026 on docs.socialdata.tools/getting-started/rate-limits (opens in a new tab)Evidence 2026-11-03/docs_socialdata_tools_getting_started_rate_limits Sorsa API
Every Sorsa API key runs at 20 requests per second on every plan, with higher limits on request from the Platform plan.
#For AI agents: 40 tools against 14
Both MCP servers are read-only, so an agent can never post from either. The difference is how much an agent gets done in one call, and what each call costs.
| What the agent gets | Sorsa API MCP server | SocialData MCP server |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | 40 | 14 |
| Batch tools | 100 tweets or profiles per call | none |
| Checks | follow, retweet, quote, comment, Community | follow |
| Followers | 200 per call, from $0.007 per 1,000 | billed per follower |
| A handle as input | on every user tool | four tools need the numeric ID |
SocialData's own tool guide (opens in a new tab) warns that its followers and following tools are "much more expensive than the rest", because each call bills a full page of profiles. On Sorsa API an agent reads 200 followers for one request. The server runs with npx -y sorsa-mcp from npm and is listed in the official MCP Registry; the Twitter MCP server page has the setup for Claude, Cursor and other clients.
#SocialData pricing, explained
SocialData sells items. Every tweet, profile, follower, list member or community member it returns costs $0.0002, which is $0.20 per 1,000, drawn from a balance you deposit in advance. A batch of 100 tweets by ID is 100 items, $0.02, and a page of followers is billed follower by follower. Its three checks are priced per call: $0.004 to confirm a follow, $0.008 to confirm a retweet or a reply.
Its FAQ says it does not offer a free plan and may set up a demo account if you write to support, and its fulfillment policy mentions a trial balance on sign-up without naming an amount. No volume tiers are published: high volumes get "a custom rate" on request.
Sorsa API prices the request, so the size of the batch sets the price of each item: tweets and profiles from $0.014 per 1,000 at 100 per request, followers from $0.007 per 1,000 at 200 per page, and checks from $0.0014 each. Plans run from 10K to 10M requests a month.
Sorsa API
from$7
for 1M followers
from $0.007 per 1,000 followers
SocialData
$200
for 1M followers
$0.20 per 1,000 followers
About 28x less on Sorsa API
#In production since 2022
The Wayback Machine first archived socialdata.tools in December 2023, when Sorsa API, then called TweetScout API, was already in production. Its response schema stays the same as the API grows, so integrations keep working.
2022
Sorsa API
launched as TweetScout API, renamed in 2025
2023
SocialData
domain registered on November 23, 2023
#Move from SocialData in ten minutes
Every SocialData read below has a Sorsa API endpoint. Send your key in the ApiKey header to https://api.sorsa.io/v3 instead of a Bearer token to https://api.socialdata.tools; user endpoints take a handle, so the ID lookups go away.
| SocialData | Sorsa API | Note |
|---|---|---|
| POST /twitter/tweets-by-ids | POST /tweet-info-bulk | 100 tweet IDs or links per request |
| POST /twitter/users-by-ids, /twitter/users-by-usernames | GET /info-batch | 100 user IDs or usernames per request |
| GET /twitter/user/{user_id}/followers | GET /followers | 200 per page, by handle, ID or link |
| GET /twitter/user/{user_id}/following | GET /follows | 200 per page |
| GET /twitter/user/{user_id}/verified-followers | GET /verified-followers | |
| GET /twitter/search | POST /search-tweets | the same X search operators |
| GET /twitter/user/{user_id}/tweets | POST /user-tweets | posts, replies or retweets |
| GET /twitter/user/{username}/mentions | POST /mentions | likes, replies, retweets and date filters |
| GET /twitter/tweets/{id}/comments | POST /comments | by relevance, recency or likes |
| GET /twitter/tweets/{id}/quotes | POST /quotes | |
| GET /twitter/tweets/{id}/retweeted_by | POST /retweeters | |
| GET /twitter/list/{list_id}/tweets | GET /list-tweets | a List of up to 5,000 accounts in one feed |
| GET /twitter/user/{source}/following/{target} | POST /check-follow | handles or IDs |
| GET /twitter/tweets/{id}/retweeted_by/{uid} | POST /check-quoted | a quote or a retweet, in one answer |
| GET /twitter/tweets/{id}/commented_by/{uid} | GET /check-comment | returns the reply itself |
| GET /user/balance | GET /key-usage-info | free: it never counts against your requests |
| SocialData field | Sorsa API field |
|---|---|
id_str | id, always a string |
full_text | full_text |
tweet_created_at | created_at |
favorite_count | likes_count |
views_count | view_count |
user.screen_name | user.username |
user.name | user.display_name |
user.friends_count | user.followings_count |
next_cursor, sent back as cursor | next_cursor, sent back as next_cursor |
curl "https://api.sorsa.io/v3/followers?username=brightline_metrics" \
-H "ApiKey: YOUR_API_KEY"The same call works with user_id or user_link instead of username, and every response holds next_cursor for the next page of 200.
#Try your own job first
Run any job above on the free requests before you pay: the docs quickstart (opens in a new tab) gets a key to its first response in about three minutes. Uptime and security shows how Sorsa API runs and what it keeps, and Twitter API alternatives prices SocialData next to the rest of the market. Every other head-to-head sits on the Twitter API comparison hub.
Sorsa API is the better pick over SocialData on every measure on this page: tweets 14x and followers 28x cheaper, ten times the rate limit, 40 MCP tools against 14, and 99.9% uptime written into its terms.
#FAQ
Is Sorsa API better than SocialData?
Yes. Sorsa API returns 100 tweets or profiles, or 200 followers, for one request, so tweets cost from $0.014 per 1,000 against SocialData's $0.20, and followers from $0.007. It runs at 20 requests per second on every plan against 120 requests a minute, gives AI agents 40 MCP tools against 14, and guarantees 99.9% uptime in its terms. Its 100 free requests never expire.
How much does SocialData cost?
SocialData charges $0.0002 for each tweet, profile or follower it returns, which is $0.20 per 1,000, from a balance you deposit in advance. A follow check costs $0.004, and a retweet or reply check $0.008. On Sorsa API one request carries up to 100 tweets or 200 followers, so the same data costs from $0.014 per 1,000 tweets and $0.007 per 1,000 followers.
Does SocialData have a free plan?
Its FAQ says it does not offer a free plan and may set up a demo account if you contact support, and its fulfillment policy mentions a trial balance on sign-up without naming the amount. Sorsa API gives every new account 100 free requests with no card, and they never expire: enough to export up to 20K followers or read up to 10K tweets.
What is SocialData's rate limit?
SocialData's rate-limit page sets 120 requests a minute, shared across all endpoints, with higher limits on request. Sorsa API runs every plan at 20 requests per second, which is 1,200 a minute, so 1M tweets by ID take about 8 minutes at 100 per request, against about 1 hour 23 minutes for the same 10K requests at 120 a minute.
Does SocialData guarantee uptime?
No. Its Terms say "We shall not guarantee or be liable for the availability of the Website or Services", and they cap its liability at the amount paid for the services behind a claim. Sorsa API guarantees 99.9% uptime on every paid plan in Section 7.1 of its Terms, locks your plan's price while you stay subscribed, and signs an SLA from 1M requests a month.
Does SocialData have an MCP server for AI agents?
Yes: a hosted server with 14 read-only tools and one check, for follows, billed like its REST calls, and four of its tools need numeric user IDs. Sorsa API's MCP server runs with npx -y sorsa-mcp and gives an agent 40 read-only tools, including batches of 100 tweets or profiles and five checks, at one request per call.
How do I switch from SocialData to Sorsa API?
Send your key in the ApiKey header to https://api.sorsa.io/v3, map each call to its Sorsa API endpoint and rename a few fields. Batches of IDs move to POST /tweet-info-bulk and GET /info-batch, followers to GET /followers with 200 per page, and search to POST /search-tweets with the same operators. User endpoints take a handle, so the lookups for numeric IDs go away.
#Sources
- SocialData pricing (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData rate limits (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData home page and FAQ (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData Terms & Conditions (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData fulfillment policy (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData: get user followers (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData: get multiple tweets by IDs (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData: verify user is following (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- SocialData MCP tools (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- RDAP record for socialdata.tools (opens in a new tab), seen 2026-11-03
- Sorsa API reference
Disclaimers
SocialData is a trademark of its owner. Sorsa API is not affiliated with SocialData.
X and the X logo are trademarks of X Corp. Sorsa API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by X Corp.
Published by the Sorsa API team. SocialData's figures come from its own pages, linked above, as seen on the dates shown.