What's New: X is about to double its API fees

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Here's what you'll find in this issue:

• X's API fees are about to double. This is what you need to know about the new pricing.
• The US government has released a document detailing guardrails around AI. Here's what's in it.
• $12K MRR from a chatbot generator. Gemma Vincent focused on nailing onboarding, which helped growth.

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X is about to double its API fees 💰

The X API is about to get more expensive for indie hackers...a lot more expensive.

Developers on the platform's "Basic" usage tier will see their monthly bill double from $100 to $200, according to a forum post from the X staff account.

Pro tier users will continue to pay $5K a month, while free users will get limited read access for the first time.

Here's why X is making the increase, and what developers will have access to.

Supercharge your SEO for 2025 💥

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The US government releases its first guardrails on AI 🏛️

AI is officially a national priority for the US government. Last week, President Biden signed the first national security memorandum detailing how the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and other national security institutions should use and protect AI.

A White House national security adviser says that "there is probably no other technology that will be more critical to our national security in the years ahead.”

Check out our summary of the 38 page document.

Indie Hackers Top Products 🏅

Here are the top products that launched on Indie Hackers yesterday:

1. 🥇 Data Analysis ToolBot: Solve your data analysis queries in just seconds.

2. 🥈 Image to Video Converter: Transform your images into dynamic videos with AI.

3. 🥉 Lasso Tool: Figma plugin to copy or cut layers using freeform selection.

Building a $12K MRR AI chatbot generator while exploring England with a baby 👶

Gemma Vincent left her full-time job behind after facing sexism at work. That experience led her to start a design agency where everyone would feel welcome.

Next, she built an AI bot generator, Chat Thing, with her husband. They've grown it to nearly $12K MRR, all while raising a baby and touring the south of England by van.

Her advice? The most important thing is selling a story, not just selling features.

Channing's tweet pick 🐦

This applies to founders, too. It’s great to own a company, but if you get too attached to the idea of this ownership, you might wait too long to:

1. Delegate “your” work to other people.
2. Pivot and adapt “your” pet project to market demand when you fail to get traction.
3. Communicate a long-term vision for your business that is bigger than “you.”

—@channingallen

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Katie Hignett, Stephen Flanders, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing