name: Alchemer API Rate Limits
description: API request limits and throttling behavior for the Alchemer REST API v5.
url: https://apihelp.alchemer.com/help/api-request-limits
limits:
  - name: Requests Per Minute
    description: Maximum number of API requests allowed per minute at the account level.
    value: 240
    unit: requests/minute
    scope: account
    plans:
      - Professional
      - Full Access
      - Business Platform

  - name: Identical Request Window
    description: The same API call cannot be made more than once within a 60-second window.
    value: 1
    unit: per 60 seconds
    scope: per endpoint

  - name: Maximum Request Size
    description: Maximum size of an individual API request body.
    value: 8000
    unit: bytes
    recommended: 4000

  - name: Request Timeout
    description: API requests that exceed this duration will return a 500 error.
    value: 30
    unit: seconds

  - name: Response Processing Delay
    description: Responses may take up to this long to process after submission.
    value: 5
    unit: minutes

  - name: GET Cache TTL
    description: GET requests are cached and may return cached results within this window.
    value: 60
    unit: seconds

throttling:
  warningHeader: X-SG-Warning
  warningMessage: "You are reaching your API request rate limit and may be throttled or blocked if you continue to make excessive requests."
  warningThreshold: Less than 10% of rate limit remaining
  cacheHeader: X-SG-Cached
  cacheValue: "true"

errorCodes:
  - code: 429
    description: Rate limit exceeded. Throttling lasts up to 1 minute after limit is hit.
    causes:
      - Request limit exceeded for the minute window
      - Identical request made within 60-second deduplication window
  - code: 400
    description: Returned for 1 minute after timeout while throttling resets.
  - code: 500
    description: Request timed out after 30 seconds.
  - code: 401
    description: Invalid or revoked API token or secret.

enforcement:
  - Routine limit violations result in permanent API access termination
  - Throttling resets within 1 minute of hitting the limit