Nitter Alternatives That Still Work
nitter.net is down and xcancel is suspended. Here is what still works, tested by hand, for reading X privately and for replacing Nitter RSS and scraping in code.
Checked by GetXAPI. Instances last checked September 30, 2026.
What is Nitter, and what happened to it?
Nitter is an open-source front end for X that showed public posts without ads, tracking or an account. It broke in January 2024 when X removed guest accounts, returned in February 2025 needing real X accounts, and received cease-and-desist letters from X Corp in August 2026. A few public instances still load; the biggest do not.
Timeline: Nitter history. Legal notice and project update: the developer's README.
Which Nitter alternative should you choose?
Three questions decide it before the detail.
Just reading
You want to read a profile, no account
- You opened an x.com link and hit the login wall.
- You want the posts, not an app.
- Use the free Twitter viewer or a working instance from the table below.
Building
You used Nitter in code or a feed
- You pulled /rss feeds or scraped instance pages.
- Instances keep dying, and they ask not to be scraped.
- Use an API. The same posts come back as JSON, see how to switch.
Purist
You want Nitter itself
- You care most about no JavaScript and no tracking.
- You can run a server and supply X accounts.
- Self-host it, knowing those accounts can be suspended.
The best Nitter alternatives, compared
There is no single replacement, because Nitter did two jobs: private reading and a free data feed. Pick by the job.
| Option | Works today | Account needed | Search | RSS or feed | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A public Nitter instance | A handful, and they change weekly | No | Some instances | Some instances | Free | Reading a profile privately, today |
| Twiiit | Yes, while any instance is up | No | Depends on the instance | Depends on the instance | Free | Not having to hunt for a live instance |
| Self-hosted Nitter | Yes, with your own X accounts | Yes, real X accounts you risk | Yes | Yes | A server, plus your time | Privacy purists who can run a server |
| GetXAPI free viewer | Yes | No | Yes, with X's operators | No | Free | Reading any public profile or search in a browser |
| GetXAPI API | Yes | An API key, no X account | Yes | JSON polling; RSS needs an adapter | $0.001 per call, about $0.05 per 1,000 posts | Code, feeds, monitoring and anything automated |
| Official X API | Yes | Yes, an X developer account | Yes | No | Pay per resource, per X's pricing page | Teams that need X's first-party contract |
Nitter instances: which still work
We opened each instance in a normal browser on September 30, 2026, loaded a profile, then ran a search. Instances come and go weekly, so treat this as a snapshot, and check the community instance health tracker for the live picture.
Two instances loaded both profiles and search, two loaded profiles with limited or unverified features, and Twiiit redirected elsewhere. Four services were unavailable in our check; one human challenge prevented verification. A challenge alone does not mean an instance is down.
| Instance | Result | What we saw |
|---|---|---|
| nitter.jaydenha.uk | Works | Profile, search and RSS all loaded |
| nitter.meowing.monster | Works | Profile and search loaded; RSS not verified |
| nitter.tiekoetter.com | Partly | Profile loaded, search returned an error |
| nitter.netbub.com | Partly | Profile loaded; search and RSS not verified |
| twiiit.com | Redirects | A redirector, not an instance; sends you to another instance |
| xcancel.com | Suspended | Shows a notice citing ongoing legal proceedings |
| nitter.net | Down | The official instance refused the connection |
| nitter.poast.org | Down | The domain no longer resolves |
| nitter.privacyredirect.com | Rate limited | Asks you to use another instance |
| shitter.thepixora.com | Not verified | Human challenge prevented checking posts; not confirmed down |
Checked from one location. Some instances block certain countries or show a human check first, so your results can differ. The tracker itself asks people not to use public instances for scraping.
Is Nitter down, and is it coming back?
The official instance is down and the largest public one is suspended, so for most people Nitter is effectively down. The project itself is not dead: after X Corp's cease-and-desist letters of 24 August 2026, the Nitter repository says it will continue following legal advice. GitHub also marks the repository as archived on 11 September 2026. That leaves the return of individual public instances uncertain.
Even where it runs, it runs on borrowed X accounts, which is why instances hit rate limits, add human checks, turn off search or RSS, and disappear without notice. That is fine for reading a profile now and then. It is not something to build on.
How to replace Nitter RSS and scraping
A bot or script can replace Nitter requests with API calls returning public posts as JSON. An RSS reader needs an extra adapter to turn that JSON into an RSS XML feed. GetXAPI does not provide a hosted RSS endpoint, and a feed reader cannot use the Bearer-authenticated JSON URL directly.
01 / Swap the instance URL
Replace your script's instance request with the matching API endpoint. An RSS reader needs an adapter that fetches JSON and publishes an RSS feed, not a direct URL swap.
02 / Use one API key
No X account, no session cookies to rotate, no pool of throwaway logins. One Bearer key authenticates every call.
03 / Read JSON, not HTML
Posts arrive with ids, timestamps, counts, media and the author profile, so there is no markup to parse or break.
04 / Poll and keep what is new
Schedule your script, save the ids between runs, and process unseen posts. For an RSS reader, convert those posts to RSS items and host the resulting XML feed.
Install requests with pip install requests and set GETXAPI_KEY. Save the Python example as nitter_poll.py and run it on a schedule, such as every five minutes with cron. Use the same working directory each time so the saved ids are reused. The first run prints the current page; later runs print unseen posts from that page. This example fetches about 20 posts per run. If more arrive between runs, use cursor pagination to catch up, or use monitoring. It does not generate an RSS feed.
import json, os, requests
from pathlib import Path
KEY = os.environ["GETXAPI_KEY"]
URL = "https://api.getxapi.com/twitter/user/tweets"
STATE = Path("nitter-seen.json")
def new_posts(username, seen):
r = requests.get(URL, params={"userName": username},
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}"}, timeout=30)
r.raise_for_status()
fresh = [t for t in r.json()["tweets"] if t["id"] not in seen]
seen.update(t["id"] for t in fresh)
return fresh
seen = set(json.loads(STATE.read_text())) if STATE.exists() else set()
for post in new_posts("NASA", seen):
print(post["createdAt"], post["url"], post["text"][:60])
STATE.write_text(json.dumps(sorted(seen)))Each call is $0.001 and returns about 20 posts, so 1,000 posts cost about $0.05. There is no X developer account to apply for, and a key is issued at signup with $0.10 in free credit. For keyword feeds, the search API takes the same operators as X search, and monitoring can push new posts to you instead of polling.
What GetXAPI replaces, and what it does not
- Replaces: reading public profiles, timelines, replies and search in a browser (the free viewer), and Nitter RSS feeds or scraping in code (the API).
- Does not replace: the no-JavaScript, self-hosted privacy model. The viewer is a normal web page and the API is a hosted service, so neither is self-hosted. If that model is the point for you, self-host Nitter.
- Nobody replaces: protected accounts. Their posts are visible only to approved followers, with or without any tool.
Sources, checked September 30, 2026: the Nitter repository and its instance list, the nitter-status tracker, and Wikipedia's Nitter article for the project timeline.
Replace Nitter with one API key
Profiles, timelines and search as JSON, $0.001 per call. No X account, $0.10 in free credits at signup.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the job. To read a public profile in a browser without an account, use a free viewer such as the GetXAPI Twitter viewer, or a Nitter instance that is still up. To replace Nitter RSS feeds or scraping in code, use an API: GetXAPI returns the same public posts as JSON for a small price per call, with no X account involved.
The official instance, nitter.net, was down when we checked on September 30, 2026, and so was xcancel.com, the most popular public instance, which showed a suspension notice. A few smaller instances still loaded a profile. The table on this page lists what worked and what did not on that date.
Some instances do, most do not, and the list changes week to week. Many that are up now show a proof-of-work or human check first, and several have disabled search or RSS. Expect to try a few, or use Twiiit, which sends you to a random working instance.
An instance fetches posts from X on your behalf and renders them as plain HTML, so X never sees your IP address or runs scripts in your browser. The current version signs in to X with accounts the instance operator provides, which is why public instances get rate limited and blocked.
xcancel.com was the largest public Nitter instance. When we checked on September 30, 2026, it showed a notice saying the service is suspended because of a new development in ongoing legal proceedings.
Nitter is a free, open-source alternative front end for X (formerly Twitter), created by the developer Zedeus in June 2019. It shows public posts without JavaScript, ads or tracking, and it offered RSS feeds. Anyone could run a copy, called an instance, so nitter.net was only one of many.
Partly. Nitter stopped working in January 2024, when X removed the guest accounts it relied on, and development resumed in February 2025 using real X accounts. X Corp sent cease-and-desist letters on 24 August 2026. The repository was archived on 11 September 2026, although its README says the project will continue following legal advice. Neither statement guarantees when public instances will return.
Reading through a public instance is generally safe for you: you do not log in, and the instance, not your browser, talks to X. What you give up is control, because the instance operator can see what you request. Running your own instance is a different matter, since it needs real X accounts, and those accounts can be suspended.
Replace x.com in a link with the address of a working instance, for example change x.com/NASA to an instance followed by /NASA. Add /rss to a profile address for its feed, on instances that still offer RSS.
Other ways to read X without the official app are Twiiit (a redirector across Nitter instances), a self-hosted Nitter, and free viewers such as the GetXAPI Twitter viewer. For anything automated, the GetXAPI API or the official X API return the data as JSON instead of pages.
Next read
Continue exploring related pages:
View X without an account
Read any public profile's posts or search X without logging in. Free, no signup.
Twitter search API
Real-time search with operators via the advanced_search endpoint, $0.05 per 1,000 tweets.
Twitter webhook API
Push new tweets to your server in 2 to 15 seconds, HMAC-signed, no polling. From $19/mo.
Twitter API alternatives and X API alternatives
Evaluate alternatives by cost model, limits, and integration fit.