Pulling numbers for an X account is the easy part. Reading them is where people go wrong: they compare a 60-follower account with a 90-million-follower one, trust an average that one viral post inflated, or treat an earnings estimate as a payout.
This guide walks through every section of a report from Xholic’s free X analytics tool: what each number is, how it’s calculated from public data, which parts are measured and which are estimated, and what a good or weak result looks like. It ends with three worked readings, using our own account (@xholicai) and @NASA, and what to do after each. For plain definitions of the metrics themselves, keep the X/Twitter analytics glossary open alongside.
What the report is built from
The tool reads only what a logged-out visitor can see: the public profile and the public counts on recent posts. It never sees impressions breakdowns, profile visits, link clicks or follower demographics, because X shows those only to the account owner.
From the account’s recent posts it keeps original posts only: replies and reposts are dropped, quote posts stay. It takes up to the 30 most recent originals. If the first page of the timeline holds fewer than 10 originals, it fetches one more page. Posts Xholic has already stored from the last 90 days can fill the sample too.
The time window is the span from the oldest sampled post to the moment the timeline was read, so it depends on how often the account posts. Our @xholicai sample covered 75 days; @NASA’s covered 23.
| Part of the report | Measured or calculated | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Followers, following, posts | Measured | Public profile |
| Views, likes, replies, reposts, quotes, bookmarks | Measured | Public post counts, averaged over the sample |
| Engagement rate, posts per week | Calculated from measured counts | The sample |
| Engagement grade, profile score | Scored against fixed bands | The sample and profile |
| Best times, top-post reasons, creator type | Pattern rules | The sample |
| Follower trend | Measured over time | Xholic’s stored daily snapshots |
| Earnings and eligibility | Estimated | Projection plus Xholic’s rate assumption |
Each lookup is cached for about 10 minutes, so running the same handle again straight away returns the same report.
How to run a report
- Enter a handle. Type
@name,nameor paste an x.com or twitter.com profile link, then select Analyze profile. Handles are 1–15 letters, numbers or underscores. - Check the sample badge. It says how many original posts were used and gives a confidence label. Read this before any other number.
- Read the grade and overall score. The letter grade rates engagement against similar-sized accounts; the score out of 100 rates the whole profile.
- Look at the score breakdown to see which of the five categories drags the total down.
- Read the four metric cards: views, engagements, engagement rate and posting pace.
Below these sit the earnings estimate, follower trend, best times, top posts, content mix and creator type. Under the report you can Copy summary (plain text with the key numbers), Download report (PNG) (saved as xholic-<handle>-x-analytics.png), Share link (the tool URL with the handle filled in), or Compare with another handle.
Reading each section
Sample size and confidence
Confidence depends only on how many original posts were found: low under 8, medium from 8 to 19, high at 20 or more. With low confidence the report adds a caveat telling you to treat the numbers as directional. Three or more originals with at least one public view count are needed for a grade and an earnings estimate at all.
A high-confidence label tells you the sample is big enough. It doesn’t tell you the sample is typical. A 30-post sample taken during a product launch describes the launch.
Engagement grade
The grade compares the account’s engagement rate by views with bands for its follower tier, because rates usually fall as audiences grow:
| Follower tier | A (Excellent) from | B (Strong) from | C (Developing) from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | 8% | 4% | 2% |
| 1K–10K | 6% | 3% | 1.5% |
| 10K–100K | 4% | 2% | 1% |
| 100K–1M | 2.5% | 1.25% | 0.6% |
| 1M+ | 1.5% | 0.75% | 0.3% |
Anything below the C threshold is a D (Needs work). The grade is the fairest single number for comparing accounts of different sizes. Our guide to good engagement rates by follower count explains why the bands shrink.
Profile score out of 100
The overall score is the plain average of five categories. Knowing the formulas stops you from reading too much into them:
| Category | How it’s scored |
|---|---|
| Profile completeness | Name 20, bio 30, profile photo 20, banner 15, website link 15 |
| Audience shape | Followers divided by following, times 22, kept between 20 and 100 |
| Engagement | Engagement rate times 1,200, kept between 25 and 100 (35 when no views are public) |
| Consistency | Sampled posts times 4 plus posts per week times 8, kept between 20 and 100 |
| Positioning clarity | Bio length in characters times 0.9, kept between 30 and 100 (20 with no bio) |
Two things follow. The engagement bar isn’t adjusted for size, so very large accounts score low on it even with a fair grade. And positioning clarity measures bio length, not quality. Use the X profile audit guide when you want the profile itself judged.
Views, engagements, rate and pace
- Average views and median views come only from posts that show a public view count. The median is the middle post, which makes it the better guess at what the next post will reach. A big gap between the two means a few posts are carrying the account.
- Average engagements count likes, replies, reposts and quotes. Bookmarks are shown separately and aren’t included.
- Engagement rate is total engagements divided by total views across posts with views. Some definitions, including our glossary’s, add bookmarks, so this tool’s rate can read slightly lower than those.
- Posts per week is the number of sampled originals divided by the window in days, times 7.
Estimated rewards (rough)
This is the most estimated part of the report. Projected monthly impressions are average views × posts per week × 30 ÷ 7, and the dollar range applies $5 to $12 per million impressions. That rate is Xholic’s working assumption, based on reported creator payouts; X doesn’t publish one. Only impressions from Premium viewers count, so real payouts can be much lower, and the panel prints that assumption right under the figure.
The three eligibility checks mirror X’s published minimums for Original Content Rewards: Premium, 500 verified followers and 500,000 original-post impressions in 90 days. Verified followers are estimated from the account’s measured share when Xholic has a large enough follower sample, otherwise 30% of followers. The 90-day figure uses stored views when available, or the projection. The Premium tick reads the account’s verification type: a blue check (Premium) or a gold check (Verified Organizations) counts, while a gray government check doesn’t, so a government account like @NASA is never marked eligible. A check mark still can’t prove the subscription is active today. Treat the range as “about what this pace could earn if the account were in the program”. Our X income model guide covers the paths that pay more reliably.
Follower trend
The follower chart uses daily snapshots Xholic has stored for the account over the last 90 days. Changes over 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days show “Not enough history” when no reading sits close enough to that date. An account nobody has checked before starts with one point; every later check adds another.
Best times to post
Times are shown in your browser’s timezone. Our captures were taken with a browser set to India time, which is why they read Asia/Calcutta. The tool groups the sampled posts by hour, starts from general X activity patterns, then lifts or lowers each hour by how this account’s posts performed there compared with its own average. A log scale stops one viral post from dominating. With fewer than 10 posts, the times lean on general patterns and the report says so. The minutes are spread out on purpose, so read “8:18 PM” as “around 8 PM”. For a full weekly heatmap, use the best time to tweet guide.
Top posts and why they worked
Up to six posts are ranked by a weighted score: likes count once, replies and quotes three times, reposts four times, bookmarks five times, plus a small boost for views. That’s why @NASA’s 2.9M-view post ranks below a 1.6M-view post with more conversation. The × average engagement score figure is the post’s weighted score divided by the sample’s average score, so it’s the same number the ranking uses and a higher-ranked post never shows a smaller multiple. The chips are factual labels (format, length band, posting hour, and whether it opens with a question or a number, starts a thread or quotes a post), not a judgement of quality.
Content mix and creator type
“Text only” means no media and no link. A post with an image and a link counts in both of those rows. The reply share line compares replies with originals over the period both lists cover. A high share isn’t a problem; it tells you the account grows through conversations.
The creator type needs at least 8 posts and follows simple rules in order: 50K+ average views is a High-reach broadcaster, 45%+ media is Visual-led, more replies than reposts is a Conversation builder, 5+ posts a week is a Consistent operator, and anything else is an Emerging creator.
Three worked readings
1. A small account with an A grade: @xholicai
Our own account: 60 followers, 30 posts over 75 days, median 47 views, 9.79% engagement rate, grade A. The median and average are close (47 and 51), so no single post is propping it up.
Reading: engagement isn’t the problem; reach and volume are. At 2.8 posts a week, the account isn’t giving the people who do engage much to see. Every sampled post is text only, and 75% of activity is replies. The best post by views (161) was a numbered list.
Next: raise original posting to 5 a week, test media in a few posts, write more list posts, and re-run the report in 30 days to see whether the median moves.
2. A giant account with a C grade: @NASA
92.4M followers, 25 posts over 23 days, median 888K views, 0.36% engagement rate, grade C (the 1M+ tier needs 0.75% for B). The profile score is 73 because the size-blind engagement bar sits at its floor of 25, and positioning clarity is 40 because the bio is short.
Reading: by our own arithmetic, a typical post reaches about 1% of followers. That’s normal for an account this size, but there’s room to move up a grade. The best performers were crew and telescope moments with video or images. Average views (1.3M) sit well above the median because a few posts passed 2.5M.
Next: if you were planning content for an account like this, you’d model more posts on the top performers’ format (native video of a live event) and watch whether the grade moves to B. Ignore the rewards panel for an agency: a gray government check doesn’t qualify, and the figure is only a pace model anyway.
3. Comparing two accounts: @NASA vs @xholicai
The table highlights whichever value is higher, row by row. Across tiers that’s mostly noise: of course NASA wins on views, and of course a tiny account wins on raw engagement rate. The row that holds up across sizes is Grade, because it already adjusts for follower tier.
Next: compare accounts in the same follower tier, use the grade and median views, and open the full Compare Twitter Accounts tool for a written head-to-head. For a structured competitor routine, see how to track a competitor’s X analytics.
Troubleshooting
- “X handles use 1–15 letters, numbers, or underscores. Check the spelling.” The input isn’t a valid handle. Remove spaces and stray characters, or paste the profile link instead.
- “We couldn’t find that account on X. Check the spelling, or the account may be suspended or deleted.” The handle doesn’t resolve to a live account.
- “This account is protected, so its posts aren’t public.” Protected accounts can’t be analyzed by anyone outside their followers.
- “You’ve run a lot of checks in a short time. Try again in N minutes.” You hit the rate limit; wait the stated time.
- “This tool is at capacity right now. Try again in a minute.” Lookups are temporarily limited; retry shortly.
- “Not enough recent original posts with public views to estimate earnings honestly.” Fewer than 3 originals, or none with a view count. The grade is hidden for the same reason.
- “X could not be reached just now, so these numbers come from the last stored scan.” The report used stored data; check the numbers again later.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see analytics for someone else’s X account?
You can see everything that’s public: views, likes, replies, reposts, quotes and bookmarks on their posts, plus their profile counts. Impressions breakdowns, profile visits, link clicks and demographics are visible only to the owner. Our post on seeing analytics for another account covers what else you can infer.
Does the account owner know I analyzed their profile?
No. The tool reads public data and doesn’t interact with the account or notify anyone.
Why are median views lower than average views?
The average adds every post’s views, so one viral post can pull it up. The median is the middle post when all posts are sorted, which is closer to what a normal post reaches.
Why does my report say low confidence?
Fewer than 8 recent original posts were found. Replies and reposts don’t count, so reply-heavy accounts often hit this. Post a few more originals and check again.
Is the earnings estimate what X will pay?
No. It’s average views times posting pace, priced at $5–$12 per million impressions, which is Xholic’s assumption. X sets real payouts and publishes no rate.
Why do my best times differ from someone else’s report?
Times are converted to each viewer’s browser timezone, and they shift as new posts enter the sample.
Is there a list of popular creators already analyzed?
Yes. The creator analytics directory has pages for a curated set of creators. Those pages use at least 7 days of gap-free stored posts, and their earnings are measured from all stored original posts over up to 30 days rather than projected.
Related guides and tools
- X/Twitter analytics glossary: definitions for every metric in this report.
- Twitter analytics guide: the full measurement framework for your own account.
- Twitter analyzer walkthrough: what an analyzer can and can’t tell you about an account.
- Free Twitter analytics tools: tested options compared.
- Twitter Engagement Rate Calculator: grade a rate from your own numbers.
- X profile audit guide: judge the profile once you know how the posts perform.
