Rate Limits

The API enforces rate limits at two levels: per IP address (requests without an API key) and per API key (authenticated requests). Both use a sliding-window counter.

IP-based rate limiting

Requests without an API key are rate-limited by source IP.

Scope	Limit
Per minute	600 requests
Per day	15,000 requests

These limits apply per IP address. Requests with an API key do not count against them, so API keys behind the same IP (e.g. corporate NAT) do not share a budget: each key has its own limits, below.

API key rate limiting

Authenticated requests are additionally rate-limited per API key. These limits are configured per key and depend on your plan.

Scope	Default	Description
Per minute	60 requests	Sliding 60-second window
Per month	3,000 requests	Resets monthly
Unique IPs	20	Maximum distinct IP addresses per key per month

Your actual limits may differ from the defaults above depending on your plan.

Response headers

Every response includes rate-limit headers so you can track your usage:

Header	Description
`X-RateLimit-Limit`	Total requests allowed for the period
`X-RateLimit-Remaining`	Requests remaining in the period
`X-RateLimit-Reset`	Seconds until the period counter resets
`X-RateLimit-Limit-Minute`	Requests allowed per minute
`X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute`	Requests remaining in the current minute
`X-RateLimit-Limit-IP`	Maximum unique IPs allowed for the key
`X-RateLimit-Remaining-IP`	Unique IPs remaining

Error responses

When a rate limit is exceeded, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests with a JSON body:

{
  "error": "rate_limit_exceeded",
  "message": "Too many requests per minute. Check X-RateLimit-Limit-Minute and X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute headers.",
  "retry_after_seconds": 60
}

The Retry-After header is also set, indicating how many seconds to wait before retrying.

Possible rate-limit errors

Cause	Message hint	Retry after
Per-minute limit exceeded	`Too many requests per minute`	60 seconds
Monthly limit exceeded	`Monthly request limit exceeded`	Seconds until period reset
Too many unique IPs	`Too many requests from different IP addresses`	Seconds until period reset

Best practices

Monitor X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute headers to proactively throttle before hitting limits.

Use exponential backoff - when you receive a 429, wait for the Retry-After duration before retrying.
Consolidate IPs - if you run distributed workers, be aware of the unique IP limit per key.
Use POST multi-search - combine multiple queries into a single request where possible.