API Rate Limit Calculator
Plan and optimize API request quotas for applications with varying traffic patterns
Calculate API Rate Limits
Rate Limit Results
Recommended Rate Limit
Total API Capacity
Usage Projections
Scaling Recommendations
Your current rate limits are insufficient for peak traffic. Increase capacity, implement queue-based throttling, or optimize your client applications to reduce API call frequency.
API Traffic Simulation
Simulated traffic patterns with rate limiting applied
Understanding API Rate Limiting
Learn about rate limiting strategies and their impact on API performance
What is API Rate Limiting?
API rate limiting is a strategy to restrict the number of API calls a client can make within a specific time period. It protects APIs from excessive use, whether intentional or unintentional, and helps ensure fair usage, prevent abuse, and maintain service availability and quality.
Benefits of Rate Limiting
Rate limits protect your API from traffic spikes, prevent service disruptions, ensure fair resource allocation, and reduce infrastructure costs by controlling usage patterns.
Considerations
Effective rate limiting requires careful planning based on expected traffic patterns, user behavior, infrastructure capacity, and business requirements.
Rate Limiting Strategies
Fixed Window
Counts requests in discrete time intervals (e.g., per minute). Simple to implement but can allow traffic spikes at window boundaries.
Sliding Window
Tracks requests over a continuously moving time window, providing smoother rate limiting without boundary spikes.
Token Bucket
Allows bursts of traffic by adding tokens to a bucket at a constant rate. Requests consume tokens, and are rejected when the bucket is empty.
Leaky Bucket
Processes requests at a constant rate from a queue. Excess requests are either queued or discarded, providing very smooth traffic flow.
Implementing Rate Limits
Best Practices
- Multiple Tiers: Implement different rate limits for different types of users or API endpoints.
- Clear Documentation: Clearly document your rate limits in API documentation and developer resources.
- HTTP Headers: Include rate limit information in response headers (e.g., X-RateLimit-Remaining).
- Graceful Degradation: Consider throttling or queuing instead of immediately rejecting requests.
- Monitoring and Alerts: Set up monitoring to track API usage patterns and alert when limits are consistently approached.
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