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: The Graph
providerId: the-graph
created: '2026-05-08'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-08, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-08'
reconciled: true
tags:
- Web3
- Indexing
- GraphQL
- Subgraphs
- Multi-chain
- Rate Limiting
description: The Graph gateway enforces per-API-key rate limits in addition to query
  metering. Substreams are billed by data egress.
notes: Limits depend on subgraph and gateway.
sources:
- https://thegraph.com/docs/en/billing/
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
- name: Subgraph Gateway
  scope: api_key
  metric: queries_per_second
  limit: 30
  notes: Default per-key throughput.
- name: Token API
  scope: api_key
  metric: requests_per_second
  limit: 10
  notes: Default Token API rate.
policies:
- name: Backoff Strategy
  description: Exponential backoff on 429; cache GraphQL responses where idempotent.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com