Tesla has officially announced their API pricing, and the high prices are leaving third-party app creators questioning the future of their platforms.
Tesla has operated for years without an official API for third-party developers. This created an ecosystem of apps that enhanced Tesla ownership with features such as analytics, automation, and fleet management. Late last year, Tesla introduced official API documentation, initially targeting fleet operators, but the all-important pricing model was still missing.
That changed on Wednesday, when Tesla updated their website with the official usage-based API pricing. The rates range from 150,000 streaming signals for $1, to $1 for 50 requests to wake up the vehicle from sleep.
To the average person these rates might sound reasonable, but they are anything but in practice. One of the most popular third-party companion apps, Teslascope, says this new API fee structure will cost more than 7 times their current monthly revenue.
For founder Tyler Corsair, who depends on the platform as his primary source of income, this situation is clearly unsustainable, and that while he hopes Tesla might change their stance, he suggests that third-party services will either have to implement notable price increases to survive, or shut down due to the high API prices.
We remain hopeful for good outcomes regarding the Fleet API pricing announcements.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) November 28, 2024
We suspect that starting in January, all third-party services, loved by over a million vehicle owners a day, will see notable price increases to survive. We'll share more on this topic next week. https://t.co/FOGMs5wo0v
Another popular third-party app, Tessie, says on Reddit the new pricing will equate to a $60 million bill each year. This kind of pricing echoes what happened to developers last year when Reddit revised its API pricing structure, leading to the demise of several popular third-party apps.
As for what’s next, the developer community is still trying to figure that out. If Tesla doesn’t end up changing their pricing model, and some of the popular third-party apps continue to exist, users will likely see reduced features or even the discontinuation of certain services within those platforms.
