Understanding rate limits and their impact on API usage

We apply rate limits to activity from machine users interacting with the Plain API. The default rate limit depends on the plan you're on.

Impact of hitting rate limits

Whenever you use our API with an API key, you will receive the following response headers:

• x-ratelimit-limit the limit for your workspace (450)

• x-ratelimit-remaining how many requests you have left (0)

• x-ratelimit-reset when the limit resets (2026-01-06T15:30:00.000Z)

You can calculate retry-after using the the timestamp provided by the x-ratelimit-reset header.

If you hit the rate limit, you will get a 429 HTTP status code and the following payload:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "message": "Too Many Requests - Rate limit exceeded",
      "extensions": {
        "code": "RATE_LIMITED"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Your client may then use the provided headers to calculate the time at which you can make the next request.