apiCommonsRateLimitsVersion: '0.1'
provider: duckduckgo
last_verified: '2026-05-23'
sources:
  - https://duckduckgo.com/api
limits:
  - api: instant-answer-api
    base_url: https://api.duckduckgo.com
    documented: false
    published_quota: none
    enforcement: undocumented (subject to anti-abuse throttling)
    guidance:
      - send a descriptive User-Agent identifying your application
      - cache responses where possible (responses are deterministic for a given query)
      - keep concurrency low; serialize when feasible
      - attribute DuckDuckGo when displaying results
    response_signals:
      - HTTP 200 with empty payload is a normal "no instant answer" outcome - not a rate-limit signal
      - service returns standard HTTP errors on overload; back off and retry
  - api: duck-ai
    surface: web only (no REST API)
    documented_tier_limits:
      free: unspecified daily / monthly usage cap
      plus: higher than free
      pro: 2x plus
    enforcement: in-product
  - api: tracker-radar
    base_url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duckduckgo/tracker-radar/main/
    enforcement: GitHub raw content rate limits apply (per-IP, ~60 unauthenticated req/hr; ~5000 with a token)
    guidance: clone the repo or mirror the dataset for bulk consumption