Nitter is offline, and nothing is a one-for-one replacement. If you used it to follow accounts without an X login or the algorithmic feed, Xanguard is a Nitter alternative for that: add any public X account in Telegram and every new tweet, reply, quote and repost arrives in your chat in real time. You need no X account, and one account is free forever.
An honest limit up front: Xanguard is not a Nitter front-end. You cannot browse profiles or search old tweets in it. It pushes new tweets from the accounts you pick to Telegram. Below: what happened to Nitter, what else people use, and a plain comparison.
What can I use instead of Nitter?
Match the replacement to the job. To read one public tweet, use X's own embed or an archive snapshot. To keep up with specific accounts without logging in to X or seeing its feed, use a Telegram bot such as Xanguard, which sends each new tweet from any public account to Telegram. Browsing whole timelines logged-out no longer has a dependable option.
Why was Nitter discontinued?
Nitter, an open-source X front-end by developer Zedeus, launched in June 2019. It ended in two stages, both from X's side:
- January 2024: X removed guest accounts, which Nitter depended on, and the maintainer announced the project was dead.
- February 2025: development resumed, now using real X accounts to fetch posts.
- 24 August 2026: X Corp sent cease-and-desist letters to Nitter and to XCancel, the best-known public instance. They accused the projects of scraping, circumventing X's API and rate limits, and using X accounts and session tokens against X's rules, and demanded a permanent shutdown. Nitter's site and XCancel went offline and the GitHub repository was archived.
Sources: Wikipedia, AlternativeTo, Techdirt, checked 6 October 2026.
Has Nitter stopped working?
Yes. After the August 2026 letters the main site and XCancel went dark. Reports describe a short return around 6 to 7 September, then major instances offline again by mid-September, with the main Nitter site still down as of late September. Some community instances load occasionally, but most are down, behind a verification wall or parked.
Can I view Twitter without an account using Nitter?
Not dependably now. Nitter's popular instances are gone, and a few leftovers come and go. You can still open a single public tweet through an embed or an archive snapshot. To receive the tweets of chosen accounts with no X login, add them to @Xanguard_bot: all you need is Telegram.
Is Nitter legal to use?
X's letter went after the operators, not readers. It alleged scraping, circumvention of X's API and use of X accounts and session tokens, and cited the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act and the Lanham Act. Those claims are contested and untested in court, and this is not legal advice. For you the question is mostly moot, because the main instances no longer exist.
Are there still active Nitter instances?
A few community-run instances still load some of the time, but September 2026 checks found most down, walled or parked, and nothing guarantees they stay up. Treat them as a coin flip, not a workflow. If you need every tweet from specific accounts, delivery to Telegram is steadier than hoping an instance is alive.
What people use instead, compared
| Option | Can do | Cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving Nitter instances, redirectors | Sometimes show a profile or tweet without login, as before | Stay up. Most are down, walled or parked, and X is actively pursuing them |
| Other viewer sites (for example sotwe) | Show recent tweets of a public account in a browser while their scraper keeps up | Promise uptime. They are ad-supported and break when X changes |
| X embeds and archive snapshots (Wayback Machine) | Show one public tweet by link, or an old saved copy of a page | Show live timelines or search. Archives only have what someone saved |
| RSS bridges and feed generators | Turn an account into a feed for your reader, when the bridge still works | Be fast: feeds refresh on a timer, and many bridges depended on the same blocked access as Nitter |
| X without login | Open single public posts by link | Browse timelines or search freely: X pushes you to log in |
| X with an account (bell notifications, lists) | Notify you on your phone, free | Work without an X account, send to Telegram or groups, or filter by keyword |
| Xanguard | Send every new tweet, reply, quote and repost from any public account to Telegram, with no X login. 1 account free, filters per account | Browse profiles, search old tweets or give you a web feed. The free plan is slower than paid, and paid plans are SOL only |
The viewer, embed and RSS rows come from public reporting on what still works in September 2026, such as PeekVault's survey. Their status changes quickly, so test before relying on any of them.
How to follow an X account without X in 2 minutes
- Open @Xanguard_bot in Telegram and press Start. On the free plan the bot asks you to join the Xanguard community first.
- Choose where alerts go. Create a private Telegram group, add @Xanguard_bot as an admin and send
/setupin the group. You can switch delivery to your private chat or to Topics later in/settings. - Send
/add elonmusk. Any username, @handle or x.com link works. - That is it. The next tweet from that account shows up in Telegram. You never log in to X.
What the free plan includes
- 1 tracked account, no expiry. Tweets, replies, quotes and reposts from any public X account, delivered to Telegram.
- Keyword filters per account, if you only want some tweets.
- Slower than paid. Paid plans detect tweets in a median of ~200 ms. The free plan runs on a slower cycle and is meant for trying the product.
- More accounts: Starter is $19 a month for 10 accounts, Growth $49 for 35, Pro $99 for 75, paid in SOL. Payments are final and non-refundable, so test on the free plan first. Full list: Twitter to Telegram and pricing.
Related: free Twitter monitoring tools tested and how to forward tweets to Telegram.
Looking for tweets by date or keyword instead? See how to search Twitter without an account and the advanced search operators.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on what you used Nitter for. To read a single public tweet without an account, use X's own embed, an Internet Archive snapshot or a viewer site, though reliability varies. To follow accounts without logging in to X or using its feed, use a Telegram bot such as Xanguard, which sends every new tweet from any public account to Telegram, free for 1 account.
Twice. In January 2024 X removed guest accounts, which Nitter relied on, and the maintainer called the project dead. It was revived in February 2025 using real X accounts. On 24 August 2026 X Corp sent cease-and-desist letters accusing Nitter of scraping and of using accounts and session tokens against X's rules, and the main site and the GitHub repository went offline.
Yes, for practically everyone. The main nitter.net site and XCancel went offline after X's August 2026 letters. There was a brief return in early September, but by mid-September the major instances were down again. A few community instances may load now and then, but none is reliable.
Not dependably any more. Nitter's popular public instances are offline or blocked. Without an X account you can still open single public tweets through embeds and archives. To receive the tweets of specific accounts without an X login, Xanguard sends them to Telegram, and you only need a Telegram account.
Reading a public page is not what X's letter targeted: it went after the operators, alleging scraping, circumvention of its API and use of X accounts and session tokens, and cited the Texas Harmful Access by Computer Act and the Lanham Act. Whether any of that holds in court is untested, and this page is not legal advice. In practice the question is moot, because the main instances are gone.
A few community-run instances still load some of the time, but reports from September 2026 describe most as down, walled behind verification or parked, and the project's main site is offline. Do not build a workflow on them. If you need steady delivery of specific accounts, a Telegram bot is a sturdier route.
Only for one use. Xanguard is not a timeline reader, search page or Nitter front-end, and it has no web feed to browse. It pushes new tweets from the accounts you choose into Telegram. If you used Nitter to keep up with specific accounts without X, it fits. If you used it to browse profiles or old tweets, it does not.
No. You only need Telegram. Open @Xanguard_bot, press Start and add any public X username. You do not need an X account, X API key, developer account or any code.
Yes, for 1 tracked account, with no expiry. The free plan is slower than paid plans and the bot asks you to join the Xanguard Telegram community first. Paid plans start at $19 a month for 10 accounts, are paid in SOL, and are final and non-refundable.