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: Plausible
providerId: plausible
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance: originally written by the API Evangelist bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04
# (roadmap#35). RE-READ FROM THE PROVIDER on 2026-08-13. The 600 requests/hour figure was
# confirmed verbatim at https://plausible.io/docs/stats-api ("API keys have a rate limit of
# 600 requests per hour by default") and at https://plausible.io/#pricing. The absence of
# rate-limit response headers was confirmed by live probes on 2026-08-13 rather than
# inferred from the docs — see responseHeaders below. Upgraded generated -> searched.
method: searched
modified: '2026-08-13'
verified: '2026-08-13'
limit_count: 3
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Rate Limiting
  - Analytics
  - Web Analytics
  - Privacy
description: Plausible publishes a default Stats API rate limit of 600 requests per hour scoped to
  the API key, available on Business and Enterprise plans. The Events API (ingest) is open to all
  plans, returns 202 Accepted on success, and uses bot/IP heuristics rather than published per-key
  numerics. Higher Stats API capacity is available by contacting Plausible. The provider does not
  publish per-second numbers or rate-limit response headers in its public documentation.
sources:
  - https://plausible.io/docs/stats-api
  - https://plausible.io/docs/events-api
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  ingestAccepted: 202
  ingestDropped: 202
responseHeaders:
  published: []
  observed: []
  observedOn: '2026-08-13'
  observedRequests:
    - 'POST https://plausible.io/api/v2/query (401, no auth)'
    - 'POST https://plausible.io/api/v2/query (401, invalid bearer)'
    - 'GET https://plausible.io/api/v1/sites (401, no auth)'
    - 'POST https://plausible.io/api/event (202)'
  absent:
    - X-RateLimit-Limit
    - X-RateLimit-Remaining
    - X-RateLimit-Reset
    - RateLimit
    - RateLimit-Policy
    - Retry-After
  note: >-
    THIS IS THE GAP. Plausible publishes the number but not the runtime signal: no
    X-RateLimit-*, no RateLimit-* and no Retry-After header was returned on any response
    observed. An agent or client cannot read its remaining budget, cannot learn when the
    window resets, and can only discover exhaustion by being refused with a 429. Every
    response does carry an `x-request-id` header, which is useful for support but not for
    flow control.
  presentHeaders:
    - {name: x-request-id, purpose: 'per-request correlation id, present on every response'}
    - {name: x-plausible-dropped, purpose: 'set to 1 on POST /api/event when the event was filtered and discarded'}
limits:
  - name: Stats API default
    scope: api-key
    metric: requests_per_hour
    limit: 600
    timeFrame: hour
    notes: Default for Business plan; Enterprise plans can negotiate higher capacity by contacting
      Plausible.
  - name: Stats API enterprise
    scope: api-key
    metric: requests_per_hour
    limit: 'negotiated; contact Plausible for higher capacity'
    notes: No fixed published ceiling for Enterprise; raised on request.
  - name: Events API ingestion
    scope: site
    metric: varies
    limit: 'no published per-second / per-minute numeric; bot filtering and IP heuristics apply'
    notes: All plans can post to /api/event. Server-side ingestion must set X-Forwarded-For to the
      real client IP or events will be dropped as bot traffic. Inspect x-plausible-dropped response
      header to detect filtering.
policies:
  - name: API Key Scoping
    description: Stats API rate limits are evaluated per API key supplied via the Authorization Bearer
      header. Multiple keys per account are permitted.
  - name: Event Ingestion Filtering
    description: The Events API silently accepts (HTTP 202) but may drop events that match bot
      heuristics. Use X-Debug-Request and check x-plausible-dropped to verify acceptance.
  - name: Capacity Increase
    description: Higher Stats API throughput is available by emailing Plausible from the Business or
      Enterprise plan account.
  - name: Backoff
    description: On 429 responses, clients should pause and retry with exponential backoff. The hourly
      window resets on a rolling basis.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com