Quotas & Limits

This page explains how rate limiting and quota enforcement work for the Safe Infrastructure API.

For authentication setup instructions and usage examples, see API Keys & Authentication.

API unit definition

One API unit equals 1 HTTP request to any Safe Infrastructure endpoint.

Enforcement behavior

Quota headers

Every API response includes headers that indicate your current quota status:

• X-RateLimit-Limit: Your total monthly request allowance.
• X-RateLimit-Remaining: How many requests you have left in the current billing cycle.
• X-RateLimit-Reset: Seconds remaining until your quota resets.

These headers allow your application to monitor usage programmatically and take action before hitting limits.

When your monthly quota is reached

When your account reaches 100% of its monthly API unit quota, all subsequent requests are blocked with an HTTP 429 Too Many Requests response and a message indicating "Monthly quota exceeded."

Requests remain blocked until:

• Your billing cycle resets, or
• You upgrade your plan via the developer dashboard (opens in a new tab).

Example 429 response:

Account-level enforcement

Enforcement is applied at the account level, not per API key. This means:

• All API keys under an account share the same quota and RPS allocation.
• Creating multiple API keys does not increase your limits.

Handling rate limit errors

When you receive an HTTP 429 response:

1. Wait and retry with exponential back-off.
2. Upgrade your plan if you consistently hit limits.
3. Monitor your usage via the X-RateLimit-Remaining response header.