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: TheSportsDB
providerId: sportsdb
created: '2026-06-25'
modified: '2026-06-25'
reconciled: true
tags:
- Sports
- Sports Data
- Rate Limiting
- Quotas
- Throttling
description: >-
  TheSportsDB enforces per-minute request rate limits that vary by subscription
  tier: 30 requests/minute on the Free tier, 100 requests/minute on the Single
  Developer tier, and 120 requests/minute on the Small Business tier. Exceeding
  the limit returns HTTP 429 and clients must wait one minute before resuming.
  Many V1 endpoints additionally cap the number of records returned on the Free
  tier; premium tiers raise or remove those data limits.
notes: >-
  Per-endpoint free record caps are documented inline in the API reference;
  confirm current per-tier limits on the TheSportsDB pricing page.
sources:
- https://www.thesportsdb.com/pricing
- https://www.thesportsdb.com/documentation
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
- name: Free Tier Requests Per Minute
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 30
  notes: Free shared test key; most queries return a limited number of records.
- name: Single Developer Requests Per Minute
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 100
  notes: Paid $9/month tier with full premium data and higher data limits.
- name: Small Business Requests Per Minute
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 120
  notes: Paid $20/month tier with no limit on returned data and a private key.
- name: Per-Endpoint Free Record Caps
  scope: endpoint
  metric: records
  limit: see provider documentation
  notes: Free tier caps records per endpoint (e.g. searches limited to 1, lists higher); premium raises these.
policies:
- name: Tiered Limits
  description: Rate and data limits increase across Free, Single Developer, and Small Business tiers.
- name: Retry After Throttle
  description: On HTTP 429, clients must wait one minute before resuming requests.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com