specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
provider: IBM API Connect
providerId: ibm-api-connect
created: '2026-05-04'
# Rewritten 2026-10-10 from IBM's published subscription terms, replacing the
# 2026-05-04 sweep scaffold (whose per-minute and monthly figures were defaults).
# IBM does not publish request-rate limits for the platform REST APIs; the limits
# below are the documented API-call volumes for hosted API Connect subscriptions.
method: searched
modified: '2026-10-10'
source:
  - https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/api-connect/cloud/12.1.1_saas?topic=overview-purchase-subscription-upgrade-information
  - https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect/pricing
  - https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/api-connect/software/12.1.1?topic=bip-rate-limit
tags:
  - API Gateway
  - API Management
  - Developer Portal
  - IBM
  - Rate Limiting
  - Quotas
description: >-
  Documented API-call limits for hosted IBM API Connect. Limits apply to API calls
  processed by the gateway for a subscription, counted for every response code (1xx to
  5xx). There is no overage: once the contracted volume is reached, further calls are
  stopped until the tier is upgraded. API providers set their own rate, burst and count
  limits on the APIs they publish through Plans and the Rate Limit policy.
limits:
  - tier: trial
    name: Trial API Call Limit
    scope: subscription
    metric: requests
    limit: 100000
    timeFrame: trial
    description: Total API calls during the 30-day trial. After the limit, access is view-only.
  - tier: standard
    name: Standard Contracted Volume
    scope: subscription
    metric: requests_per_year
    limit: 1200000000
    timeFrame: year
    description: >-
      Highest self-service tier on AWS Marketplace; higher volumes through IBM sales.
      Calls stop at 105% of the purchased volume across all instances. Unused calls do
      not roll over.
  - tier: premium
    name: Premium Contracted Volume
    scope: subscription
    metric: requests_per_year
    limit: 1200000000
    timeFrame: year
    description: Contracted from a minimum of 100 million calls per year.
policies:
  - name: No Overage
    description: >-
      IBM does not charge overage. When the contracted limit is reached, calls are
      stopped; upgrading mid-contract is pro-rated and subtracts calls already used.
  - name: Limit Notifications
    description: >-
      Paid subscriptions get call-limit email notifications at 50%, 80%, 100% and
      105%.
  - name: Contract Year Reset
    description: Limits apply to the current contract year and reset on renewal.
  - name: Provider-Defined Limits
    description: >-
      Rate, burst and count limits on published APIs are configured by the API provider
      in Plans or with the Rate Limit assembly policy, and differ per API.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com