Rate Limiting
Controlling the number of requests a client can make to an API within a specified time period to prevent abuse and ensure fair usage.
In-Depth Explanation
Rate limiting restricts how many API requests a client can make within a time window. It protects services from abuse, ensures fair resource allocation, and maintains system stability.
Rate limiting strategies:
- Fixed window: X requests per minute/hour
- Sliding window: Smoother limits across time boundaries
- Token bucket: Allow bursts up to a maximum, refill over time
- Leaky bucket: Process requests at fixed rate, queue excess
Implementation levels:
- Per user/API key
- Per IP address
- Per endpoint
- Global across service
Response handling:
- HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) when exceeded
- Retry-After header indicates when to retry
- Rate limit headers show remaining quota
Common limits (examples):
- OpenAI: Varies by tier and model
- Anthropic: 60 requests/minute (varies by plan)
- Google: Often 600 requests/minute
Business Context
Rate limiting is essential for API products, protecting infrastructure, enabling tiered pricing, and ensuring no single customer degrades service for others.
How Clever Ops Uses This
We implement rate limiting for Australian business APIs and advise on handling rate limits when integrating with AI providers.
Example Use Case
"Implementing tiered rate limits: free tier gets 100 requests/day, standard gets 1000/hour, enterprise gets 10000/minute."