name: Neo4j API Rate Limits
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: Neo4j
providerId: neo4j
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - Rate Limiting
  - Graph Database
  - AuraDB
notes: Neo4j does not publish per-second request limits for AuraDB or the Bolt protocol. Capacity is
  governed by instance memory/CPU sizing rather than HTTP quotas. The Aura Console API and Query API
  do not document explicit RPS caps in the public specification. The Free tier is constrained by node
  and relationship count, not request rate. Reconcile with Neo4j Aura platform docs when limits are published.
description: Neo4j is a graph database; capacity scales with instance size (RAM, CPUs, storage) rather
  than per-second HTTP throttling. The Aura management API and Query API do not publish explicit RPS
  limits. The AuraDB Free tier limits node and relationship counts. Bolt protocol concurrency depends
  on the chosen instance size.
sources:
  - https://neo4j.com/docs/aura/platform/api/specification/
  - https://neo4j.com/pricing/
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  serviceUnavailable: 503
limits:
  - name: AuraDB Free node + relationship count
    scope: instance
    metric: nodes_relationships
    limit: see AuraDB Free tier docs
    notes: Free tier limits node and relationship counts rather than request rate.
  - name: AuraDB Professional / Business Critical capacity
    scope: instance
    metric: varies
    limit: bound by selected GB RAM, CPU, storage
    notes: Throughput scales with selected size (1-512 GB RAM, 1-96 CPU cores).
  - name: Aura Console / Query API
    scope: account
    metric: varies
    limit: see Aura API specification
    notes: No explicit RPS limit published in the public Aura API specification.
policies:
  - name: Capacity-based scaling
    description: Right-size AuraDB instance memory and CPU to handle target query throughput; Neo4j
      sizing guidance recommends measuring p95 query latency under load and scaling vertically.
  - name: Connection pooling
    description: Use the official Neo4j drivers' connection pool; do not open a new Bolt session per
      request. Default pool size is 100 connections per driver instance.
  - name: Query timeouts
    description: Set `dbms.transaction.timeout` to bound long-running Cypher queries on self-managed
      Enterprise; AuraDB applies platform timeouts.
  - name: Backpressure on free tier
    description: Free tier reaches node/relationship caps; queries that would exceed the cap fail. Upgrade
      to Professional for production volumes.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com