API guide

The Threads API in 2026.Two calls a post, 250 posts a day.

Meta's Threads API has no fee and posts to any Threads profile, with or without a linked Instagram account. Publishing is a media container, then threads_publish, with about 30 seconds between the two for media. Profiles without a role on your app need App Review for threads_basic and threads_content_publish, and posts are capped at 250 per profile every 24 hours.

Checked October 6, 2026. Breakreach is our product.

# 1. A media container (Threads app id and token)curl -X POST "https://graph.threads.net/v1.0/$THREADS_USER_ID/threads" \  -d "media_type=IMAGE" \  -d "image_url=https://cdn.northbeam.coffee/pourover.jpg" \  -d "text=We cut our menu from 14 coffees to 6. Sales went up." \  -d "access_token=$TOKEN" # 2. Wait about 30 seconds, or check the statuscurl "https://graph.threads.net/v1.0/$CONTAINER_ID?fields=status&access_token=$TOKEN" # 3. Publish: one of the profile's 250 posts a daycurl -X POST "https://graph.threads.net/v1.0/$THREADS_USER_ID/threads_publish" \  -d "creation_id=$CONTAINER_ID" \  -d "access_token=$TOKEN"

1/3 POST /{user-id}/threadsSending

Published · now

northbeam.coffee· now

We cut our menu from 14 coffees to 6. Sales went up. Fewer choices, better coffee.

The Threads API at a glanceWhat it takes before the first post.

Price: No fee. Meta's Platform Terms say it doesn't guarantee the platform will always be free
Accounts you can post to: Any Threads profile, with or without a linked Instagram account since September 23, 2025
Permissions: threads_basic and threads_content_publish, with the Threads app id of your Meta app
Review: App Review for each permission before profiles without a role can grant it. Meta says about a week
Publishing limit: 250 posts, 1,000 replies and 100 deletions per 24 hours per profile
Text: 500 characters, emoji counted in UTF-8 bytes, up to 5 links
Access tokens: 1 hour, exchanged for 60 days, refreshed once at least 24 hours old
Scheduling: None: threads_publish publishes at once

Checked on October 6, 2026, from Threads's developer documentation and terms.

Our recommendation

To post to Threads from your product, use Breakreach's API.We built it, so here's the case.

See the request

No App Review or Threads Tester invites: profiles connect through Breakreach's Meta app
One request for a text, image or video post: the container, the wait and the publish are handled
Replies and insights through the same API, and the same request posts to X, Bluesky and the rest

When to use Threads's API directly. Breakreach posts one image or one video per post: no carousels, polls, quote posts, link attachments or topic tags yet. The Threads API has all of them.

How to get access to the Threads APIFrom a developer account to your first real post.

1Create an app with the Threads use case"Access the Threads API". threads_basic is required; add threads_content_publish, and threads_manage_replies or threads_manage_insights if you need them.
2Use the Threads app id and secretYour app gets two pairs, and Threads calls use the Threads one. Add the redirect, deauthorize and data deletion URLs.
3Invite testersAdd profiles as Threads Testers under App roles. Each accepts in their Threads account settings, under Website permissions, and can then grant your app any permission.
4Send users through Threads' authorization windowthreads.com/oauth/authorize returns a code, valid for an hour and once, exchanged for a 1-hour token, then for a 60-day one.
5Pass App Review and publish the appEach permission must be approved, and the app published, before profiles without a role can grant it.

Meta says a submission usually gets a decision within a week, often in 2 to 3 days.

How to post with the Threads APIThe requests in the demo above, one by one.

1Create a media containerPOST /{threads-user-id}/threads with media_type (TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO or CAROUSEL), the text and the media URL. A text post can skip the last step with auto_publish_text=true.
2WaitMeta recommends about 30 seconds before publishing, or checking GET /{container-id}?fields=status once a minute, for up to 5 minutes.
3PublishPOST /{threads-user-id}/threads_publish with creation_id returns the post's id.

A carousel is 2 to 20 child containers with is_carousel_item=true, then a CAROUSEL container. A container not published within 24 hours expires.

Common Threads API errorsWhat they mean and how to fix them.

Error	What it means	Fix
`THREADS_API__LINK_LIMIT_EXCEEDED`	More than 5 links in the post.	Keep it to 5 or fewer.
`Container status ERROR`	The media failed: FAILED_DOWNLOADING_VIDEO, INVALID_DURATION, INVALID_FRAME_RATE and others, in error_message.	Fix the file to match the specs, on a public URL.
`Container status EXPIRED`	The container wasn't published within 24 hours.	Create a new container.
`400 Matching code was not found or was already used`	The authorization code was reused, or is over an hour old.	Send the user through authorization again.

Threads API limitsRate limits, text and media.

Posts250 API-published posts per 24 hours per profile, a carousel counting as one; also 1,000 replies and 100 deletions. GET /{threads-user-id}/threads_publishing_limit shows the usage.
Text500 characters, emoji counted in UTF-8 bytes. Text attachments, on text-only posts, carry up to 10,000 characters.
LinksUp to 5 per post: since December 22, 2025, a post with more fails with THREADS_API__LINK_LIMIT_EXCEEDED.
Images and videoJPEG or PNG up to 8 MB, 320 to 1,440 pixels wide. MOV or MP4 up to 5 minutes and 1 GB, 23 to 60 frames a second.
Carousels2 to 20 images and videos.

Is the Threads API free?

There's no fee and no price list in the Threads API docs. Meta's Platform Terms only say it doesn't guarantee the platform will always be free.

What costs is the setup: a Meta app with the Threads use case, App Review for each permission, and long-lived tokens to refresh before their 60 days are up.

Through Breakreach, a Threads profile counts like any other connected account: the first 2 are free, then $5 a month each up to 20.

Ways to post to Threads from code

	What you set up	Price	Posts to Threads
Breakreach	An API key. Accounts connect through Breakreach's reviewed apps, or your users connect theirs on a hosted page	First 2 accounts free, then $5 a month per account (less from 21)	Yes
Threads's own API	A Meta app with the Threads use case, and App Review	No, Fee	Yes
Upload-Post	An API key	Free for 2 profiles and 10 uploads a month; Basic $24 a month for 5 profiles	Yes
Zernio	An API key	First 2 accounts free, then $6 per account up to 10, $3 up to 100, $1 after	Yes
Ayrshare	An API key	From $149 a month for 1 profile, no free plan	Yes
Outstand	An API key	$19 a month for 3,000 posts, then per post	Yes

Checked on October 6, 2026, from Threads's developer documentation and each company's pricing page. Breakreach is our product.

What the Threads API can't do

Edit a post: the API creates, publishes, reposts and deletes, but has no update
Add links, GIFs or text attachments to an image or video post: those are for text-only posts
Carousels of more than 20 items, or posts with more than 5 links
Show a user's posts to other people in your app

Post to Threads with Breakreach's APIOne request, scheduled, with retries.

POST /v1/posts

curl https://api.breakreach.com/v1/posts \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BREAKREACH_API_KEY" \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{    "content": "We cut our menu from 14 coffees to 6. Sales went up. Fewer choices, better coffee.",    "accountIds": ["6701a2f4c9e84b0012a3b4cb"],    "media": ["https://cdn.northbeam.coffee/pourover.jpg"],    "scheduledAt": "2026-10-07T09:00:00"  }'

What it posts on Threads

Text postsUp to 500 characters.
An image or a videoOne image or one video with the text. When both are sent, the video goes out.
RepliesRead, answer or hide the replies to your posts.
StatsViews, likes, replies and reposts per post, followers, and 30-day views and likes with a daily trend.

Not yet

Carousels
Polls, quote posts and topic tags
Link attachments

The full reference, webhooks and the price per connected account are on the developers page, and the OpenAPI spec is at api.breakreach.com/v1/openapi.json.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Short answers about the Threads API.

There's no fee and no price list. Meta's Platform Terms only say it doesn't guarantee the platform will always be free. The cost is App Review and token upkeep.

No. Since September 23, 2025, the Threads API works with Threads profiles that have no linked Instagram account.

250 per profile per 24 hours, a carousel counting as one, plus 1,000 replies and 100 deletions. threads_publishing_limit shows the usage.

Since December 22, 2025, posts with more than 5 links fail with THREADS_API__LINK_LIMIT_EXCEEDED.

The short-lived token lasts an hour. Exchanged, it lasts 60 days, and can be refreshed once it's at least 24 hours old. A token not refreshed within 60 days can't be refreshed anymore.

Not with Threads' API: threads_publish publishes at once. Scheduling means your own job, or an API like Breakreach that holds the post until scheduledAt.

The first 2 connected accounts are free; from the third it's $5 a month per account up to 20, $3 up to 100, then $2. You pay per connected account, never per post or per request.