API Rate Limit Calculator
Calculate throughput, request quotas, and user capacities for your API endpoints.
Seconds
Minutes
Hours
Days
Months (30 Days)
Total Requests per Second (RPS):
0
Requests per User per Window:
0
Requests per User per Minute:
0
Average Latency Gap (ms):
0
What is a Rate Limit?
Rate limiting is a strategy for limiting network traffic. It puts a cap on how often someone can repeat an action within a certain timeframe – for instance, trying to log into an account or calling an API endpoint. In the world of APIs, it is essential for preventing abuse, managing server load, and ensuring fair usage among different consumers.
How to Use This Calculator
This calculator helps developers and DevOps engineers translate business requirements into technical rate limiting configurations. Here is how to interpret the inputs:
- Total Request Quota: The maximum number of hits your server or API gateway can handle in the given window.
- Time Window: The duration over which the quota is measured (e.g., "1 Hour").
- Concurrent Users: The number of unique API keys or users sharing the total quota.
Common Rate Limiting Algorithms
When implementing these numbers, you will likely use one of several popular algorithms:
- Fixed Window: Limits requests in a specific window of time (e.g., 10:00 to 10:01). It's simple but can allow a burst of traffic at the window boundary.
- Sliding Window: A more flexible version of the fixed window that tracks requests relative to the current timestamp.
- Token Bucket: Allows for bursts of traffic. Requests consume tokens from a bucket that refills at a steady rate.
- Leaky Bucket: Requests are processed at a constant rate, smoothing out bursts.
Example Calculation
If you have a quota of 3,600 requests per hour and 10 users:
- Total requests per second = 3,600 / 3,600 seconds = 1 RPS.
- Requests per user per hour = 3,600 / 10 = 360 requests.
- Requests per user per minute = 360 / 60 = 6 requests per minute.
- Wait time between user requests = 10 seconds.