Rate limits on API requests help maintain the API's health and stability. Every Linode API operation applies a rate limit on a per-user basis as determined by the OAuth token for authenticated requests, or the IP address for public operations.

Each rate limit consists of a total number of requests and a time window. For example, if an operation has a rate limit of 800 requests per two minutes, then up to 800 requests over a two-minute window are permitted. Subsequent requests after the limit return a 429 error. You need to wait for the rate limit window to reset before you can make additional requests.

Linode API rate limits

With the Linode API, these basic rate limits apply:

• GET-based operations that return paginated data collections have a rate limit of 200 requests per minute, unless called out in Specific operation rate limits.

• All other operations have a rate limit of 800 requests per minute, unless called out in Specific operation rate limits.

📘

Rate limiting may be applied at other levels, outside of the API. For example, rate limits can be applied at a load balancer.

Specific operation rate limits

These specific operations have their own unique rate limits:

Rate limit HTTP response headers

The Linode API includes the following HTTP response headers, which help you avoid hitting rate limits that might disrupt your applications:

• X-RateLimit-Limit. The maximum number of permitted requests during the rate limit window for this operation.
• X-RateLimit-Remaining. The remaining number of permitted requests in the current rate limit window.
• X-RateLimit-Reset. The time when the current rate limit window rests in UTC epoch seconds.
• Retry-After. The remaining number of seconds until the current rate limit window resets.