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: Signal
providerId: signal
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:
  - Messaging
  - Encryption
  - Privacy
  - Rate Limiting
description: Signal does not publish a public rate-limits document for a commercial API surface. The
  Signal service applies abuse-mitigation throttling (e.g., on registration, message send, group operations)
  internally; thresholds are intentionally not published and may change without notice. There is no
  developer-facing rate-limit contract.
sources:
  - https://signal.org/
notes: No public rate-limit specification exists. Signal's throttling is anti-abuse oriented and is
  not exposed as a developer SLA.
limits:
  - name: Anti-abuse throttling
    scope: client
    metric: varies
    limit: not publicly documented
    notes: Registration, send, and group operations may be throttled to mitigate spam/abuse; thresholds
      are not published.
policies:
  - name: Anti-Abuse, Not SLA
    description: Signal's rate limits exist to protect end users from spam and abuse rather than to
      partition a billable API; clients must not rely on specific thresholds.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com