Build it or buy it
You could build this. Here’s what it costs.
Do you want to build your own X tools, or do you want the results? Both are fair answers. These are the real numbers.
Every month, for one account
| Cost | Monthly | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and database | $5 | Cloudflare Workers Paid. Includes the database and storage a single account needs. Cloudflare Workers pricing |
| X API | $1–$10 | Pay per use: $0.001 per post you own, $0.005 per post from anyone else, $0.015 per post you publish. Checking posts often in their first hours is what adds up. X API pricing |
| AI model | $2–$10 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 at $2 in and $10 out per million tokens, for scoring drafts and a weekly brief. Claude API pricing |
| AI coding assistant | $20–$200 | To build it and keep it working. Claude and ChatGPT plans run $20 to $200 a month. Claude plans |
| Domain and email | $1–$3 | A domain is about $10–15 a year. Email sending has free tiers at this size. |
| Total | $29–$228 | Before your time. |
Published list prices, checked October 1, 2026. Your usage may land higher or lower.
What you’d be building
- Your full post history, imported and kept current
- Each new post checked often in its first hours, without blowing your X API budget
- A score that learns what works for your account, not accounts in general
- Checks on its own accuracy, so you know when to trust it
- Keeping up when X changes its API, prices or ranking
Your first year, building it yourself
Your numbers, not ours. Change any of them.
$/hr
hours
hrs/mo
- Running costs
- $348–$2,736
- Your time
- $7,400
- First year
- $7,748–$10,136
Build it yourself if
- You enjoy building as much as posting.
- You want to own every line and every number.
- You have the hours, and you’d rather spend them coding than writing.
Otherwise, it already works, and it keeps up with X for you.