specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: ROR
providerId: ror
created: '2026-06-12'
modified: '2026-06-12'

description: >-
  The ROR REST API enforces rate limits per IP address. Currently, the limit is
  2,000 requests per 5-minute period with no client ID required. Beginning Q3
  2026, clients without a registered client ID will be reduced to 50 requests
  per 5-minute period. Clients that register a free client ID at
  https://ror.org/api-client-id will retain the 2,000 requests per 5-minute
  limit. Rate limit headers are returned with API responses.

retryAfter: Retry-After
throttled: 429

limits:

  - scope: ip
    metric: requests
    limit: 2000
    timeFrame: PT5M
    description: >-
      Current standard limit: 2,000 requests per 5-minute period per IP address,
      applicable to all clients regardless of client ID status until Q3 2026.

  - scope: ip-no-client-id
    metric: requests
    limit: 50
    timeFrame: PT5M
    description: >-
      Post Q3 2026 limit for unidentified clients: 50 requests per 5-minute
      period per IP address for API requests made without a registered client ID.

  - scope: ip-with-client-id
    metric: requests
    limit: 2000
    timeFrame: PT5M
    description: >-
      Post Q3 2026 standard limit for identified clients: 2,000 requests per
      5-minute period per IP address for API requests made with a registered
      free client ID.

  - scope: global
    metric: results
    limit: 10000
    timeFrame: null
    description: >-
      Maximum number of records retrievable via the API per query. For complete
      dataset access (120,000+ records), users must download the full data dump
      via Zenodo.

notes:
  - "Client ID registration is free and available at https://ror.org/api-client-id"
  - "Client ID requirement takes effect Q3 2026"
  - "No authentication headers are required prior to Q3 2026"
  - "Health check endpoint available at https://api.ror.org/heartbeat"
  - "Status page available at https://ror1.statuspage.io/"