X vs Medium
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
X
Connect with a global community in real-time for breaking news, live events, and conversations. Share your thoughts, discover trending topics, and engage with diverse perspectives. Features include an AI assistant, live audio/video, and private messaging.
- Real-time breaking news updates
- Post thoughts, photos, and videos
- AI assistant for news summaries
- Live audio and video streaming
- Direct messaging with connections
- Community building around interests
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X (formerly Twitter) is a social media app where you can follow breaking news, live events, and trending topics as they happen. Sports, tech, music, politics: whatever you're into, the conversation starts here, raw and unfiltered. It's also a place to be heard. Post your take on the day's news, go live, and grow an audience for whatever you create. Millions of people come to X every day to find out what's happening and talk about it. WHAT YOU CAN DO ON X - Follow breaking news – Get news from around the world before it hits the headlines, with real-time updates on trending topics and viral conversations. - Post to a global community – Share your thoughts, photos, and videos. Join millions of users shaping public dialogue across social, cultural, and political conversations. - Ask Grok – Grok is the AI assistant powered by X's real-time data. Ask Grok to summarize trending news, explain videos, or give you more context about posts. Grok also powers the photo and video editing tools in the app. - Create original videos – The built-in Video Editor and Recorder lets you shoot, add multi-language captions, apply green screen effects, and post pro-level content directly in the app. - Go live on video – Stream a concert, a live game, or your thoughts on a hot topic, and keep your audience engaged with enhanced livestream tools. - Watch video and podcasts – From live breaking news and sports clips to podcasts and gaming sessions up to 3 hours long. Many of the world's leading voices in comedy, gaming, podcasting, and politics share their content on X. - Host live audio with Spaces – Spaces is X's audio feature for hosting discussions, holding interviews, or starting your next live podcast. - Message privately – Connect and chat with friends, followers, customers, or collaborators through Direct Messages. - Pin Custom Timelines – Custom Timelines are Grok-powered topic feeds you can pin for the topics you follow most. - Turn on Priority Notifications – Priority Notifications surface your key interactions first. - Open your History tab – The History tab is one unified place for your bookmarks, likes, videos, and articles. - Subscribe to X Premium – X Premium unlocks a blue checkmark, boosted visibility, prioritized replies, fewer ads, longer videos, and post editing. It also gives you creator revenue sharing and the ability to offer exclusive content to subscribers. WHO X IS FOR X is for people who follow breaking news and live events in real time, for sports, tech, music, and politics fans, for creators and podcasters who stream and create original video content for an audience, and for anyone building a community around gaming, entertainment, crypto, entrepreneurship, or tech. WHY X? In a world of constant change, X is your real-time source to stay ahead of the curve, connect with people, explore diverse perspectives, and create standout content. From breaking live news and trending memes to top podcasts, live streams, and original videos from your favorite creators, X brings it all together in one powerful social experience. Privacy Policy: https://x.com/privacy Terms and Conditions: https://x.com/tos
Medium
Access a vast collection of human stories, expert advice, and inspiring insights. Discover new topics, follow your interests, and connect with a global community of readers and writers. Publish your own work and reach a wide audience.
- Distraction-free reading
- Curated content on tech, culture, news
- Unlimited story access with membership
- Personalized reading library
- Community engagement (claps, comments)
- Publishing platform for writers
- Audio versions of stories (Member feature)
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Welcome to Medium, your home for human stories, useful advice, and inspiring insights. Immerse yourself in a world of wisdom with writing from renowned figures, passionate experts, and fresh voices. Make reading and writing a daily ritual by following your fascinations, discovering new rabbit holes, and reaching readers of your own. Medium is simple social publishing for everyone. + Find your focus with distraction-free reading about everything from taking better pictures to what it’s like to scale a startup. + Stay current with stories about emerging technology, culture, and firsthand accounts of front-page news. + Become a member for unlimited access to millions of stories from our global community of the curious. + Assemble your own personal library by highlighting passages, bookmarking stories, and following writers who share your passions. + Join a community of readers, writers, and thinkers who clap for what they love, respond with insightful comments on thought-provoking stories, and collaborate to create popular publications. + Reach a wider audience by publishing your stories on a platform that serves more than 100M idea-loving people. + Establish a professional presence on a trusted platform, alongside academics, leaders, and experts. + Join the Medium Partner Program to earn money from your writing. + Enjoy a continuous reading experience across your iPhone, iPad, and desktop. + Listen to audio versions of any story on Medium (Member feature). __ Medium Terms of Service: https://policy.medium.com/medium-terms-of-service-9db0094a1e0f Privacy Policy: https://policy.medium.com/medium-privacy-policy-f03bf92035c9 Support: https://help.medium.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Medium at none against X's shown. Medium also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 45%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). X's advantage is ratings volume (11M vs 157K) and update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly). On price, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. X sells 25 in-app purchases, starting at $1.00 per month and Medium sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Medium holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: X has 11M ratings behind it against 157K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of X's written reviews are positive against 63% of Medium's.
X ships an update every 3 days, Medium weekly. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.
| Parameter | X | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (11M ratings) | 4.8 (157K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.5% of reviews | 62.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11M — better | 157K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #1 — better | #17 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 624 MB | 242 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | X Corp. | A Medium Corporation |
Customer experience
X
Medium
User reviews
X
From 11M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and efficient platform
- 💡 Diverse range of content and discussions
- 👍 Useful for news and information sharing
- 🌐 Global connectivity and exchange of ideas
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and technical issues
- 🤖 Proliferation of bots and spam accounts
- 🔒 Concerns over censorship and lack of free speech
- 💰 Paywalled features and monetization efforts
Medium
From 157K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Excellent content and writing quality
- 🌐 Wide variety of topics and perspectives
- 🧠 Thought-provoking and informative articles
- 🤓 Useful for learning and personal growth
- 🎨 Clean and minimalist design
Room to improve
- 🔒 Paywall limits access to content
- 📥 Difficulty finding and accessing past articles
- 🔍 Lack of effective search and filtering options
- 🤖 Concerns about AI-generated content
- 🖥️ Suboptimal experience on larger screens
Bugs and requests
X
Reported bugs
4 issues- Account suspension and lockout issues
- Inconsistent app performance and UI changes
- Unreliable notification system
- Inability to view deleted or suspended accounts
Requested features
4 requests- Edit tweet option
- Improved content moderation and enforcement of rules
- Customizable feed and better user control over content
- Enhanced privacy and data protection measures
Medium
Reported bugs
5 issues- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Login and authentication issues
- Syncing and data loss problems
- Compatibility problems with newer OS versions
- Unreliable push notifications
Requested features
5 requests- Offline reading mode
- Better organization and navigation of content
- Improved personalization and recommendation system
- Integration with other platforms and services
- Enhanced writing and publishing tools
In-app purchases
X
- @FatKidDeals Subscription$1.001 Month
- @Rainmaker1973 Subscription$2.001 Month
- @pulte Subscription$2.991 Month
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- @Zirksee Subscription$2.991 Month
- @TheBabylonBee Subscription$3.001 Month
- @jacksonhinklle Subscription$3.001 Month
- @DataRepublican Subscription$3.001 Month
- @elonmusk Subscription$4.001 Month
- X Premium Basic (Monthly)$4.001 Month
- @stevewilldoit Subscription$5.001 Month
- @robbystarbuck Subscription$5.001 Month
- @MikeBenzCyber Subscription$5.001 Month
- @RealAlexJones Subscription$5.001 Month
- @C__Herridge Subscription$7.001 Month
- @shellenberger Subscription$9.001 Month
- @shreyas Subscription$9.991 Month
- X Premium (Monthly)1 Month trial$11.001 Month
- @Jake__Wujastyk Subscription$14.001 Month
- @Banana3Stocks Subscription$40.001 Month
- X Premium Basic (Annual)$42.001 Year
- X Premium Plus (Monthly)1 Month trial$50.001 Month
- X Premium (Annual)$114.991 Year
- X Premium Plus (Annual)$490.001 Year
- Promote Post for $25$25.00
- Promote Post for $50$50.00
Medium
- Medium Membership1 Month trial$4.991 Month
- Medium Membership$4.991 Month
- Friend Membership$14.991 Month
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Medium Membership1 Year trial2 variants$49.991 Year
- Friend Membership$149.991 Year









