What is Rate limiting?
Verified 5 August 2026
Usually implemented per replica rather than globally, because a global counter needs shared state on the hot path. The consequence is that published limits are floors: a fleet of replicas gives an effective ceiling above the stated number.
Distinguish it from a quota. A rate limit bounds requests per minute; a quota bounds them per billing period. Exceeding the first returns 429 and should be retried with backoff; exceeding the second is a billing event.
How unlob handles this: Rate limits and quotas
Common questions
What is Rate limiting?
Rate limiting caps how many requests a client may make per interval, protecting a service from overload and enforcing plan tiers.
How does Rate limiting work in practice?
Distinguish it from a quota. A rate limit bounds requests per minute; a quota bounds them per billing period. Exceeding the first returns 429 and should be retried with backoff; exceeding the second is a billing event.
See it working
The free tier is 10,000 requests a month with no card — enough to test any of this against your own queries.