How much of today's X allowance is left?
X publishes a daily allowance of 50 original posts and 200 replies for unverified accounts, broken into semi-hourly intervals, and every device and third-party app spends the same bucket. Tell the calculator what you have already sent today and what you still plan to send, and it returns what is left, whether the plan fits, and which limit you would hit first. Nothing is uploaded.
Set the numbers above and run the calculator.
What X actually publishes
The limits page is short, and the numbers on it are the only ones worth planning around. They are technical limits, not a marketing budget — X describes them as a way to “alleviate some of the strain on the behind-the-scenes part of X and reduce downtime and error pages”.
| Action | Documented limit | Notes on the same page |
|---|---|---|
| Posts (original) | 50 per day for unverified accounts | The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals |
| Replies | 200 per day for unverified accounts | Same semi-hourly breakdown; replies are counted separately from original posts |
| Direct Messages | 500 per day | — |
| Changes to account email | 4 per hour | — |
| Following | 400 per day | A technical limit only; separate rules ban aggressive following |
| Following, account-based | Ratio-limited after 5,000 | Once an account follows 5,000 others, further follows are limited by account-specific ratios |
Why the allowance is semi-hourly, not a midnight reset
A daily ceiling with an hourly sub-ceiling behaves differently from a bucket that refills at midnight, and the difference matters for anyone replying in batches. Two consequences follow from the documented wording. First, a burst is the expensive shape: sending a large share of the 200 replies inside one interval can hit the sub-limit while the daily number still looks healthy. Second, the ceiling is not a fixed contract — X states these limits “may be temporarily reduced during periods of heavy site usage”, and that such reductions are announced on the X status site. A routine that spends its allowance in one sitting has no room to absorb that; a spread-out routine does.
Where a reply routine quietly overspends
- Threads are counted per post. A seven-post thread is seven posts from the 50, not one — and threads are separately useful, so the thread-or-single-post guide is worth reading before converting a habit into one.
- Every device spends the same bucket. Documented: the limits include actions from all devices, including web, mobile, phone and API, and API requests from third-party applications are tracked against the hourly API limit. A second tool does not buy extra replies; it drains the same allowance faster.
- Replies and posts are separate columns. Fifty original posts and two hundred replies are not one pool of 250 — a plan that trips the post ceiling is not rescued by unused replies.
- Reaching the ceiling produces an error naming the limit. Documented: if you reach a limit, X tells you which limit you hit, and time-based limits (Direct Messages, posts, email changes, API requests) can be retried after the time limit has elapsed. An error naming the post limit is arithmetic, not an enforcement action — though automation that triggers enforcement is a different question, covered in is auto-replying allowed on X.
Read the result
- Plan fits. You have already spent some of today's allowance; what remains covers the plan. Prefer spreading the remainder across the day over spending it in one interval — the reply cadence planner turns available minutes into a daily shape.
- Plan does not fit. Cut the number of replies, not the quality of them: the reply quality checklist grades a draft, and automating replies without spam covers what makes a high-volume routine survive contact with readers.
- Posts are the constraint. If the post column is what runs out, the answer is usually fewer, longer posts rather than more short ones — and if replies are genuinely closed to you on a post, that is a different problem entirely, which the reply eligibility checker settles.
The documented facts the calculator is built on
| Documented behaviour | Source |
|---|---|
| 50 original posts and 200 replies per day for unverified accounts, further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals | help.x.com — about X limits |
| The limits include actions from all devices — web, mobile, phone, API — and API requests from third-party applications are tracked against the hourly API limit | help.x.com — about X limits |
| Reaching a limit produces an error message telling you which limit you hit, and time-based limits can be retried after the interval elapses | help.x.com — about X limits |
| These limits may be temporarily reduced during periods of heavy site usage, with updates posted on the X status site | help.x.com — about X limits |
| Automated replies and mentions are permitted only where the recipient has opted in, one automated reply per user interaction | help.x.com — automation rules |
Eight free tools: track the allowance, plan the cadence, check the reply door, decide the format, split the draft, check the length, grade the reply, or generate the angle.