Nitter
Open-source alternative front-end for viewing Twitter/X posts without the official site.
Used to read X posts without an account123, through a lighter and faster interface45 that is easy to self-host or swap between instances.67 The most common caveat is that X keeps blocking it, so public instances break8910 and self-hosting carries legal risk.1112
Why people recommend it
No account needed · 3
Lets people read X posts and follow shared links without an X account.
“I use Nitter/Xcancel entirely because I don't have an account”
“I use a self-hosted Nitter instance. This way I get to follow those X links without needing a (real, active) account.”
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“when they did that I switched to nitter.”
Easy self-hosting · 3
Commenters say it is easy to run your own instance or switch to another of many instances.
“Thats the nice thing about alternate frontends like Nitter, if the main instance goes down you can just clone the repo and make your own very easily”
“I use a self-hosted Nitter instance. This way I get to follow those X links without needing a (real, active) account.”
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“Nitter has more working instances than before the takedowns”
Speed · 2
Described as lighter and much faster than the X site itself.
“I use it because it is at least 10 times faster than the lethargic drugged ground sloth that is the X site.”
“I use a self-hosted Nitter instance. This way I get to follow those X links without needing a (real, active) account.”
RSS and feeds · 2
Used to follow specific accounts, including through an RSS endpoint for breaking news.
“I used nitter to pull posts of organizations and reporters to deliver breaking news in my area to me fast.”
“XCancel/Nitter for specific feeds by certain people”
Avoiding X · 2
Some prefer it so they can see X content without visiting X or giving it ad revenue.
“I click on Nitter links but I would never in my life click on an "X" link.”
“you can use mirrors like xcancel.com or nitter.net as drop-in replacements (which I use.)”
Hackable code · 1
A Nim project whose code one commenter found surprisingly easy to hack on.
“Cool to see such a notable Nim based project continue!”
Caveats and dissent
Blocked by X · 3
X repeatedly blocks it, and some users say instances stopped working or disappeared.
“Cool to see such a notable Nim based project continue!”
“I had to rely on nitter and xcancel for that... Now that no longer works either”
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“I used to use one or two of these to scrape my friends' posts”
Legal risk · 2
Self-hosting may bring a cease-and-desist, and the project has faced legal issues.
“You can probably still self-host a Nitter instance, at the risk of a C&D?”
“Cool to see such a notable Nim based project continue!”
Archived repo · 1
One commenter noted the Nitter repository had been archived.
“They have archived the nitter repo :(”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“I'm the developer of Nitter (https://github.com/zedeus/nitter), an open-source alternative frontend for X/Twitter”
Threads where it came up
- Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices 5 mentions
- XCancel service is suspended until further notice 2 mentions
- Nitter has more working instances than before the takedowns 2 mentions
- Twitterwebviewer.com Service Discontinued 2 mentions
- Shitter – A Nitter Fork 1 mention
- Nitter: Update Oct 10th seeking funding and legal help 1 mention
Data: nitter.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 21
“Nitter has more working instances than before the takedowns”
“I click on Nitter links but I would never in my life click on an "X" link.”
https://github.com/zedeus/nitter
“I use XCancel and Nitter regularly an I like them”
“I use a self-hosted Nitter instance. This way I get to follow those X links without needing a (real, active) account.”
“XCancel/Nitter for specific feeds by certain people”
“Cool to see such a notable Nim based project continue!”
“Thats the nice thing about alternate frontends like Nitter, if the main instance goes down you can just clone the repo and make your own very easily”
“I used to use one or two of these to scrape my friends' posts”
“Nitter has a lot more instances than before the takedown”
“self-hosting my own instances of Nitter and Redlib”
“I use it because it is at least 10 times faster than the lethargic drugged ground sloth that is the X site.”
“Self-hosted Nitter still works for now, it is what I use to read X posts.”
“You can probably still self-host a Nitter instance, at the risk of a C&D?”
“I use Nitter/Xcancel entirely because I don't have an account”
“I had to rely on nitter and xcancel for that... Now that no longer works either”
“I used nitter to pull posts of organizations and reporters to deliver breaking news in my area to me fast.”
“They have archived the nitter repo :(”
“when they did that I switched to nitter.”
“you can use mirrors like xcancel.com or nitter.net as drop-in replacements (which I use.)”
“I use Nitter or XCancel”