Bookmark folders are the one X feature people quietly resent paying for. You saved a few thousand posts, the list became unusable, and the fix turns out to sit behind a subscription. Before you take it, here is exactly what the folders do, what the cheapest tier costs, and which parts of the mess they leave untouched.
Which X tier includes bookmark folders?
The cheapest one. X's help page lists three tiers, Basic, Premium and Premium+, and puts bookmark folders in the Basic list alongside editing posts, longer posts, longer video uploads and custom app icons. You do not need the blue checkmark tier for folders. X's own page states that web pricing starts at $3 a month or $32 a year, plus tax.
Two things worth knowing before you compare that to anything. The price is localised, so what you see may differ from the headline figure. And subscribing through the iPhone app costs noticeably more than subscribing on the web, because Apple's cut is passed on. If you are buying it, buy it in a browser.
What do the folders actually do?
They do what folders do. You make one, you file posts into it, and your bookmarks stop being a single undifferentiated list. They work everywhere you are signed in to X, including your phone, which is the real advantage: this is the only option in this article that is right there in the app at the moment you save something.
Basic also carries features that have nothing to do with bookmarks. If you post regularly, the edit window and longer posts may already justify the money on their own, and the folders are a bonus rather than the purchase. That is a genuinely reasonable way to end up subscribing, and this article is not an argument against it.
What the folders do not fix
Three things, and they are the three that usually prompted the search in the first place.
Finding a specific post. Folders help only if you filed correctly months ago, and filing is the step everyone skips. X has a keyword search over bookmarks on the web, but it matches words as written, so the post you remember by its picture or its gist rather than its exact wording stays hidden.
Posts that disappear. A bookmark is a pointer to somebody else's post. Filing it into a folder does not copy it. When the account is deleted, suspended or set to private, the entry stays in the folder and leads nowhere.
Everything you save elsewhere. Folders live inside X. The article you saved in Safari, the screenshot on your desktop and the image you pinned last week are all still somewhere else.
What $32 a year buys next to what $29 once buys
These are not the same product and the comparison is only fair on one axis: the recurring cost of tidying your saved posts. On that axis, one year of X's cheapest tier costs more than Muse does in total, and it costs that again every year afterwards.
| Muse | X Premium Basic | |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring cost | None | Every year |
| Folders on your phone | No | Yes |
| Organises posts you saved on X | Yes | Yes |
| Holds what you save anywhere else | Yes | No |
| Keeps the pictures as files you own | Yes | No |
| Other X features included | No | Yes |
How do you organise Twitter bookmarks without paying?
You have options that cost nothing, and they are worth trying before any subscription.
- Use the search box first. On the web, X's bookmarks page has a keyword search. For a post you can half quote, it is faster than any folder you would have built.
- Prune before you organise. Most bookmark piles are ninety percent things you will never open again. Removing those makes the remainder findable without any tool at all.
- Export the list. Several free browser extensions will scroll your bookmarks page and hand you a CSV or Markdown file. We covered the options in keeping your X bookmarks.
That third step gets you a backup, not a workflow. A spreadsheet of links is safe from X, but it is no easier to search than the list you started with.
Where Muse comes in
Muse is a Mac app for everything you save, and X bookmarks are one source feeding it. Switch on X Bookmarks in the settings and in Muse's browser extension, then open your bookmarks on X and scroll. They file themselves as the page loads them, with no account to connect and no request ever made to X by Muse: it reads what your own browser was already given.
Posts with pictures come in as real image files at full size, so the picture is yours whether or not the post survives. Text-only posts come in as links carrying the post's opening words. From there they sit in collections next to your Pinterest saves, your browser bookmarks and your screenshots, searchable by their words and by what the images look like.
The honest limits: Muse is a Mac app, so there is nothing on your phone, and it does not archive the full text of a post. If your bookmarks live on your phone and you want folders at the moment you tap save, X Premium is doing something Muse cannot.
So, is it worth it?
Take Basic if you are on X constantly, you want folders on your phone, and the other Basic features appeal on their own. It is inexpensive and it does what it says.
Skip it if bookmark folders are the only reason you were reaching for your card. Folders alone do not make posts findable, they do not survive a deleted account, and they leave every other thing you save exactly where it was.
Frequently asked
Do I need X Premium to use bookmark folders?
Is X Premium cheaper on the web than in the iPhone app?
Do bookmark folders stop posts disappearing?
Can I organise my X bookmarks without paying anything?
Pay once, not every year
Free for 30 days. Then $29 once, and it is yours.