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 Quantum
providerId: ibm-quantum
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-05-25'
description: Documented rate limits for the IBM Quantum Platform (Qiskit Runtime REST API). Per-IAM-token request rate caps and per-instance quantum compute minute quotas pulled from the platform documentation and OpenAPI description.
sources:
  - https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/docs/en/guides/plans-overview
  - https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/api/openapi.json
  - https://www.ibm.com/quantum/blog/flex-plan
policies:
  - id: jobs-create-rate
    name: Job submission rate
    appliesTo:
      - POST /v1/jobs
    scope: per IBM Cloud IAM token
    type: request-rate
    limit: 5
    window: 1m
    description: The Qiskit Runtime REST API limits job creation (POST /v1/jobs) to 5 requests per minute per IAM token. Documented directly in the OpenAPI description for the create-jobs operation.
  - id: open-plan-quantum-minutes
    name: Open Plan quantum compute minutes
    appliesTo:
      - all primitive jobs submitted via the Open Plan
    scope: per IBM Quantum account
    type: quota
    limit: 10
    window: 28d-rolling
    description: Open Plan users receive up to 10 quantum compute minutes per 28-day rolling window. Active Open Plan users could also opt in (as of March 2026) for an additional 180 minutes over 12 months.
  - id: open-plan-promo-minutes
    name: Open Plan promotional minutes
    appliesTo:
      - all primitive jobs submitted via the Open Plan
    scope: per IBM Quantum account (opt-in)
    type: quota
    limit: 180
    window: 12m
    description: Promotional bonus of 180 additional quantum compute minutes available to active Open Plan users over 12 months.
  - id: instance-allocation
    name: Instance allocation
    appliesTo:
      - all Qiskit Runtime instances
    scope: per instance
    type: quota
    limit: configurable
    window: per instance configuration
    description: Each Qiskit Runtime instance carries an allocation that bounds total minute consumption and concurrency. Inspect via GET /v1/instance and GET /v1/instances/configuration.
  - id: regional-endpoints
    name: Regional endpoint selection
    appliesTo:
      - all endpoints
    scope: per-request
    type: regional
    limit: -1
    window: per request
    description: Choose between the global endpoint (quantum.cloud.ibm.com) and the EU-DE regional endpoint (eu-de.quantum.cloud.ibm.com) at request time. Some instances and QPUs are region-bound.
headers:
  - name: IBM-API-Version
    description: Required date-based API version (e.g. 2026-03-15). Acts as a contract pin and may affect available endpoints.
  - name: Service-CRN
    description: Identifies the Qiskit Runtime instance the request is billed against; required for all data-plane calls.
notes:
  - All authenticated requests are scoped by IBM Cloud IAM token + Service-CRN; quota and concurrency apply at the instance level.
  - Pay-As-You-Go and Flex usage is metered in seconds (PAYG) and minutes (Flex/Premium) of quantum time.