40 X (Twitter) Statistics for 2026 (Premium, Grok & Ads)

Most X statistics floating around online are still stuck in 2021, quoting old Twitter numbers from before the rebrand. The platform has changed more in the last three years than in the ten before that.

Growth is back, X Premium has become a real business, and Grok is now built into the core of the app. None of this looks like the Twitter most old roundups still describe.

This page walks through where X actually stands today, what Premium costs and delivers, and how ad spend and creator payouts are shaping up in 2026.

Key X Statistics

Ten numbers that sum up X right now. Figures are current as of August 2026, based on the latest published data from each source.

Metric	Latest Figure
Monthly active users, Q1 2026	611 million
Daily monetizable active users	251 million
X Premium subscribers globally	14.2 million
Premium+ (top-tier, no ads) subscribers	4.7 million
Full-year advertising revenue, 2025	About $2.95 billion
Creator payouts, 2025	$415 million
Grok monthly active users, early 2026	About 64 million
Posts sent per day	About 500 million
Average X ad CPM	$5.42 to $5.65
Largest age group on the platform	25 to 34 years old

How Many People Use X Right Now?

Usage has stabilized after several rocky years, and the trend line for 2026 points up rather than down.

1. X reached 611 million monthly active users in Q1 2026, up from 588 million a year earlier.

2. Daily monetizable active users climbed to 251 million, the highest figure in the platform’s history.

3. Monthly active user growth is running at roughly 3.9% year over year.

4. If current growth holds, X is projected to pass 650 million monthly users by the end of 2026.

5. Users send an estimated 500 million posts per day.

6. The average user spends around 31 to 32 minutes per day on the platform.

7. The United States remains the largest single market, with more than 100 million users.

This is the first sustained growth stretch X has had since the 2022 acquisition.

Three years of turbulence appear to be settling into a measurable, repeatable pattern, the same kind of platform-usage shift covered in our Facebook statistics.

What Does X Premium Cost and Deliver?

Premium subscriptions have grown from a controversial launch into a real structural part of X’s business.

8. X Premium has grown to about 14.2 million subscribers globally, up 38% year over year.

9. The Premium+ tier, which removes ads entirely, has reached roughly 4.7 million subscribers and is growing fastest.

10. Basic Premium costs about $3 a month, standard Premium runs $8 a month or $84 a year, and Premium+ costs around $40 a month.

11. Premium accounts can see meaningfully more reach than free accounts through the algorithmic reply and visibility boost.

12. About 70% of Premium subscribers say verification and the algorithmic boost are their main reasons for subscribing.

13. Subscription revenue across all Premium tiers is now estimated at more than $1 billion a year on an annualized basis.

Premium has created a real two-tier system on X. Paying accounts get amplified reach, the same kind of visible advantage covered in our social proof statistics.

How Does Grok Fit Into X Now?

Grok is no longer a side project, it is built into the core of how X works.

14. Grok is embedded directly into X’s feed, search, and post composer for Premium subscribers.

15. Grok reached about 64 million monthly active users by early 2026.

16. Grok’s share of the US AI chatbot market rose to 17.8% in January 2026, up from 1.9% a year earlier.

17. About 34% of Premium subscribers cite Grok access as a reason for subscribing.

18. X launched a fully rebuilt, AI-powered ad platform in April 2026, replacing the legacy targeting and bidding system with Grok-driven tools.

X is increasingly positioning itself as an AI-first platform rather than a traditional social network, and the ad and subscription businesses are both being rebuilt around that shift.

Is X Advertising Recovering?

The numbers are trending in the right direction, even if they remain well below pre-acquisition levels.

19. X posted its first ad-revenue-positive quarter since the 2022 acquisition in Q4 2025, with revenue exceeding cost basis by about 8%.

20. Full-year advertising revenue for 2025 came in at approximately $2.95 billion.

21. 2026 advertising revenue is projected at roughly $2.46 billion, still under half of the platform’s pre-acquisition peak above $5 billion.

22. Major advertisers including Apple, Disney, and IBM have returned to the platform.

23. Small and medium-sized businesses now account for about 31% of total ad spend on X.

24. The average cost per click on X ads ranges from about $0.27 to $1.95, averaging around $0.74.

25. Average CPM sits between $5.42 and $5.65, among the lowest of any major ad platform.

26. Estimated average cost per lead on X is around $41.

X remains one of the cheapest platforms to advertise on, largely because major brands pulled back after 2022 and have only partially returned, a trust gap similar to the one covered in our customer experience statistics.

How Much Are Creators Earning?

Creator monetization has scaled up significantly, though earnings remain concentrated at the top.

27. X paid out $415 million to creators in 2025, up from $260 million in 2024.

28. Most creators earn between $10 and $2,000 a month, with many earning under $100.

29. Creator payouts are increasingly tied to engagement from Premium subscribers rather than ad placement in reply threads.

30. In-app purchase revenue, which includes tipping and other creator tools, rose to about $250 million, up from roughly $120 million.

The math has shifted in favor of a smaller number of highly engaged creators, the same shift from volume to engaged trust covered in our word of mouth statistics.

Who Uses X?

The core demographic profile has stayed fairly stable even as the platform’s economics changed.

31. Users aged 25 to 34 make up about 38.5% of X’s global ad audience, the largest single age group.

32. X’s ad-reachable audience equals about 7.1% of the world’s total population.

33. Americans earning more than $75,000 a year make up about 36% of the US X audience, roughly double their share of the general population.

34. Video now makes up about 42% of media posts on X, up sharply year over year.

35. Although the US accounts for a minority of total users, it drives more than half of X’s total revenue.

X’s audience skews toward higher-income, video-engaged users, which is part of why advertisers have been willing to return, much like the trust factors covered in our online review statistics and reviews on your own site.

How Does X Compare to Threads and Bluesky?

Competition for the short-form, text-first audience has intensified since 2023.

36. Threads has grown to roughly 141.5 million daily mobile users, ahead of X’s daily mobile figures in some comparisons.

37. Bluesky has grown to around 41 million total users since its public launch.

38. X’s share of total global digital ad spending has fallen to a small fraction of a percent as the broader ad market has grown around it.

39. Instagram’s advertising reach, at roughly 1.74 billion users, remains several times larger than X’s reachable ad audience.

40. Facebook’s ad reach of roughly 2.28 billion users is the largest of any major platform, dwarfing X by a wide margin.

X is no longer competing to be the biggest social platform, it is competing to be the most useful one for a specific, engaged, AI-curious audience willing to pay for it, the same repositioning covered in our reputation management guide.

How to Use These Numbers

Budget for X ads with realistic expectations. CPMs are low compared to other platforms, but reach is smaller and the audience skews toward higher-income, video-first users.

If you post organically, know that Premium accounts are getting a real algorithmic advantage now.

Pair any X presence with visible social proof on your own site, since a platform this volatile should never be your only channel.

Conclusion

X in 2026 looks very different from the Twitter most roundups still describe. Premium, Grok, and a rebuilt ad platform have reshaped how the business actually works now.

Growth has returned, advertising turned a real corner, and creator payouts have nearly doubled. None of it has brought X back to its old scale, but the trend finally points up.

Treat any X statistic more than a year old with real caution. This platform changes faster than almost any other major network, so keep checking back before you plan around it.

Sources

SQ Magazine | DigitalApplied | Searchlab | GetAFollower | PostEverywhere | Priori Data