Rate Limits

Rate limits protect the API from abuse and ensure fair usage across all customers. Limits are applied per API key and vary by subscription tier.

Limits by Tier

Rate Limit Headers

Every API response includes rate limit information in the response headers:

Handling Rate Limits

When you exceed the rate limit, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response:

{
  "error": "Rate limit exceeded",
  "detail": "Maximum 60 requests per minute for starter tier",
  "retry_after": 12
}

Retry Strategy

Implement exponential backoff with the Retry-After header:

import time
import requests

def api_request(url, headers, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        resp = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
        if resp.status_code != 429:
            return resp
        retry_after = int(resp.headers.get("Retry-After", 5))
        time.sleep(retry_after * (2 ** attempt))
    return resp

Best Practices

• Cache responses when possible to reduce API calls.
• Monitor the X-RateLimit-Remaining header to preemptively throttle requests.
• Use exponential backoff when retrying after a 429 response.
• Batch operations where possible instead of making many individual requests.
• Contact us if you consistently need higher limits — we offer custom enterprise plans.