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: People Data Labs
providerId: peopledatalabs
created: '2026-07-11'
modified: '2026-08-14'
generated: '2026-08-14'
method: searched
source: https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/usage-limits
limit_count: 7
reconciled: true
tags:
- Data Enrichment
- Person Data
- Company Data
- Rate Limiting
- Quotas
description: >-
  People Data Labs applies per-API-key rate limits using a fixed-window strategy
  measured over a 60-second window. Limits vary by endpoint and by account type
  (free/self-serve versus paying/enterprise). Each response carries rate-limit
  headers; once x-ratelimit-remaining reaches zero, further requests return HTTP
  429 until the window resets. These per-minute request limits are separate from
  the monthly credit allowances that govern how many records you can match.
notes: >-
  Header names, semantics and examples below were re-read verbatim from the PDL usage-limits
  documentation on 2026-08-14. The per-endpoint request-per-minute numbers are published
  defaults that can be raised on paid and enterprise plans; PDL directs the exact current
  defaults to a Help Center article ("Plan types: Free, Pro and Enterprise") which sits
  behind a Cloudflare bot challenge, so those numbers remain as previously captured.
  Where a route has several active limits, PDL applies the one with the lowest time
  granularity and returns that limit's reset time.
sources:
- https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/usage-limits
- https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/reference-person-enrichment-api
- https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/reference-person-search-api
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  creditsExhausted: 402
retryAfterHeader: false
headers:
- name: x-ratelimit-limit
  description: >-
    A JSON object of ceilings for the current windows, with `minute`, `day` and `month`
    members. `day` is populated on the Autocomplete API only; `month` on the Company
    Cleaner API only.
  example: '{"minute": 1201, "day": null, "month": null}'
- name: x-ratelimit-limit.minute
  description: The maximum number of requests you can make in a minute.
  example: '1201'
- name: x-ratelimit-limit.day
  description: Maximum requests per day. Autocomplete API only.
  example: '12001'
- name: x-ratelimit-limit.month
  description: Maximum requests per month. Company Cleaner API only.
  example: '120001'
- name: x-ratelimit-remaining
  description: >-
    A JSON object of remaining requests per window (`minute`/`day`/`month`). When the
    applicable member reaches zero, requests return 429 until the window resets.
  example: '{"minute": 1200, "day": null, "month": null}'
- name: x-ratelimit-remaining.minute
  description: Requests available in the next minute.
  example: '1200'
- name: x-ratelimit-reset
  description: UTC timestamp at which the rate limit resets.
  example: '2022-02-23T20:19:55Z'
- name: x-call-credits-spent
  description: Credits billed for this call.
  example: '1'
- name: x-call-credits-type
  description: >-
    Credit type billed — one of enrich, search, search_company, enrich_company,
    enrich_skill, enrich_job_title, preview_search, person_identify.
  example: enrich
- name: x-lifetime-used
  description: Total credits used over the account's lifetime.
  example: '984152'
- name: x-totallimit-remaining
  description: >-
    Total credits available (purchased plus overage). When this reaches zero all requests
    return 402.
  example: '1342'
- name: x-totallimit-purchased-remaining
  description: Purchased credits remaining.
  example: '342'
- name: x-totallimit-overages-remaining
  description: Overage credits remaining.
  example: '1000'
responseSizeLimit:
  bytes: 1048576
  note: >-
    A hard 1MB ceiling on all responses, most often hit by Search and Bulk Person
    Enrichment when requesting 80-100 records. Documented mitigations: send
    `Accept-Encoding: gzip`, narrow the payload with `data_include`, or request ~50 records.
limits:
- name: Person Enrichment API
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 100/min free, 1000/min paying
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Bulk person enrichment matches count against monthly credits per record.
- name: Person Search API
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 10/min default
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Search is more expensive; default self-serve limit is lower.
- name: Company Enrichment and Search APIs
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: per plan
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Metered on company credits; per-minute limits scale with account type.
- name: Autocomplete API
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 60/min self-serve, up to 1200/min enterprise
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Typeahead suggestion endpoint.
- name: Skill Enrichment API
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 100/min free, 5000/min paying
  timeFrame: minute
- name: Cleaner APIs
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 10/min default
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Company, school, and location cleaner endpoints.
- name: Person Changelog API
  scope: api-key
  metric: requests
  limit: 100/min self-serve, 500/min enterprise, up to 5000/min
  timeFrame: minute
policies:
- name: Fixed Window
  description: Limits reset on a fixed 60-second window; calls may be made at any interval within the window until exhausted.
- name: Backoff Strategy
  description: Clients should read the x-ratelimit-remaining header and implement exponential backoff with jitter on 429 responses.
- name: Limit Increases
  description: Per-minute limits can be raised on paid and enterprise plans by contacting People Data Labs.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com