> **For coding agents and LLMs:** This is one Social Fetch marketing page (markdown export). For API orientation start with [`/llms.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.txt); for auth and crawl rules use [`/agents.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/agents.txt); for every operation use [`/llms-endpoints.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms-endpoints.txt). ## This page - **On-site (HTML):** - **Markdown (.mdx) URL:** --- # What are rate limits on a social API? Rate limits cap requests per time window or concurrent load. Official platform APIs enforce per-app quotas with HTTP 429. On Social Fetch, paid metered /v1/* routes have no request quotas — credit balance is the practical limit; extreme concurrency may queue or return 503, not a billed 429. ## Why platforms rate-limit in the first place Official APIs protect shared capacity and cut abuse via per-window quotas — hit the cap, get 429 until reset. Integrators add backoff, queues, and sometimes multiple apps to stay under caps unrelated to spend. Public-data vendors vary: credits, concurrency guidance, or both. Read the specific product's docs — first-party quotas don't always apply. ## How Social Fetch handles throughput Paid /v1/* routes have no published per-minute or per-day cap. Credit balance is the ceiling. Concurrency is capped at 200 requests in flight per workspace; above that, extra requests get 503, not 429. Under load, requests may queue. Extreme concurrency, or going over the in-flight cap (reason concurrency_limit), yields 503 temporarily_unavailable with Retry-After — not billed. Free routes (whoami, balance) have per-key limits and can return 429. ## What this looks like in practice A bulk YouTube channel job on an official API is bounded by per-minute quota regardless of compute. On Social Fetch it's bounded by credits and the 200 in-flight cap — no per-minute window to wait out. Overshooting concurrency yields 503 with Retry-After, not wasted credits — delay, not double billing. ## How this compares to typical per-minute quota models Fixed-window quotas decouple throughput from budget — you can be within spend and still get 429. Social Fetch paid routes tie throughput to credits and your own concurrency, not a clock to wait out. ## Common mistakes and misconceptions Porting 429 backoff logic from official APIs onto Social Fetch paid routes — saturation returns 503, not 429. Handle 429 on free whoami/balance; 503 with Retry-After on paid routes. Retrying a 503 immediately instead of honouring Retry-After — over 200 in flight it returns 503 concurrency_limit, not 429. It isn't billed; check meta.creditsCharged. ## Designing around limits On credit-metered APIs, budget credits and concurrency, not RPS windows. On quota-based official APIs, plan for resets and elevated tiers. Persist meta.requestId with retry metadata so support can trace throttle vs bad payload vs a lookup issue. ## FAQ ### Does Social Fetch have a rate limit? Paid /v1/* routes: no request quotas; credits are the limit. Free whoami/balance routes have per-key limits and can 429. ### What happens if I exceed the rate limit? 429 on free routes — back off. Paid routes: no quota to exceed; over 200 in flight per workspace, or under extreme load, you get 503 with Retry-After (not charged). ### How many requests per second can I make? No published RPS cap on paid routes. Concurrency is capped at 200 requests in flight per workspace. ### Does Social Fetch return 429 or 503 under load? Paid saturation: 503 with Retry-After. 429 reserved for free whoami/balance. ### Am I charged credits for a 503 response? No. 503 and lookup_failed don't complete a lookup. Completed lookups including not_found do charge. ### How does this compare to Twitter/X or other official API rate limits? Official APIs use fixed quotas and 429 regardless of budget. Social Fetch paid routes tie throughput to credit spend. ### Should I still implement backoff and retries? Yes — 429/Retry-After on free routes, 503/Retry-After on paid. Log meta.requestId per attempt. ### Where is throughput behavior documented? /docs/credits (throughput), /docs/errors (429, 503), /reliability. ## Related - [Credits docs](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/credits) - [Errors docs](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/errors) - [Reliability](https://www.socialfetch.dev/reliability) - [API credits](https://www.socialfetch.dev/glossary/api-credits) - [requestId](https://www.socialfetch.dev/glossary/request-id) - [Bulk social data](https://www.socialfetch.dev/glossary/bulk-social-data)