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  • Getting started
    • Overview
    • Quickstart
    • Authentication
    • Rate limits
      • Rate limit headers
      • Platform quotas
  • Messaging API
    • Send transactional email
    • Send transactional SMS
    • Send transactional WhatsApp
  • Marketing Platform
    • Manage your contacts
    • Track website activity
    • Send WhatsApp campaigns
    • Weekly event exports
  • Webhooks
    • Getting started
    • Conversations webhooks
    • Payment webhooks
    • Marketing webhooks
    • Transactional webhooks
    • Loyalty webhooks
    • Batched webhooks
    • Secure webhook calls
    • Meetings and phone webhooks
    • Push notification webhooks
    • Sales CRM webhooks
  • Conversations
    • Getting started
    • Customize the chat widget
    • JavaScript API reference
    • REST API reference
    • Conversations webhooks
  • eCommerce
    • Activate eCommerce app
    • Manage product categories
    • Manage products
    • Manage orders
    • Coupon collections
    • eCommerce tracker events
  • Loyalty
    • Overview
    • Set up a program
    • Enroll members
    • Credit & debit points
    • Read member data
    • Best practices
  • Custom Objects
    • Custom objects management
  • Brevo tracker and events
    • Getting started
    • JavaScript implementation
    • REST implementation
    • Legacy tracker documentation
    • Events
  • Accounts and settings
    • Senders and domains
    • User activity logs
    • External feeds
    • Invited users
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On this page
  • Overview
  • General rate limits
  • Advanced rate limits
  • Extended rate limits
  • Handling rate limit errors
  • Distribute requests evenly
  • Upgrade to Enterprise
  • Use webhooks for statistics
  • Related resources
  • Rate limit headers
  • Platform quotas
Getting started

Rate limits

Understand API rate limits and how to handle rate limit responses
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Rate limit headers

Understand and use rate limit response headers to manage API request throttling
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Overview

The Brevo API enforces rate limits to ensure platform stability and fair resource allocation. Rate limits cap the number of API requests you can make within a given time period.

The API provides three rate limit tiers:

  • General rate limits: Standard limits for most use cases. Available to all account types (Free, Starter, Standard, Professional, and Enterprise).
  • Advanced rate limits: Higher limits for advanced use cases. Available to Professional and Enterprise accounts.
  • Extended rate limits: Maximum limits for high-throughput integrations. Available to Enterprise accounts.

When you exceed a rate limit, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests status code. Monitor rate limit headers in responses to track your usage and prevent errors.

Rate limits are expressed in two units

  • RPS (Requests per second): Maximum requests allowed per second
  • RPH (Requests per hour): Maximum requests allowed per hour

Some endpoints have both RPS and RPH limits. When both apply, you must respect both simultaneously.

General rate limits

Available in
Free
Starter
Standard
Professional
Enterprise

EndpointRate limitRequests per second
POST /v3/smtp/email
GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts		3,600,000 RPH1,000 RPS
GET /v3/smtp/emails7,200 RPH2 RPS
POST /v3/transactionalSMS/send540,000 RPH150 RPS
POST /v3/events36,000 RPH10 RPS
POST /v3/orders/status18,000 RPH5 RPS
POST /v3/products7,200 RPH2 RPS
All endpoints under /v3/smtp/{…}*300 RPH-
All endpoints under /v3/contacts/{…}36,000 RPH10 RPS
GET /v3/loyalty/config
All endpoints under /v3/loyalty/{…}		600 RPH-
All other endpoints100 RPH-
*Excludes POST /v3/smtp/email and GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts, which have dedicated limits.

Advanced rate limits

Available in
Free
Starter
Standard
Professional
Enterprise

EndpointRate limitRequests per second
POST /v3/smtp/email
GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts		7,200,000 RPH2,000 RPS
GET /v3/smtp/emails10,800 RPH3 RPS
POST /v3/transactionalSMS/send720,000 RPH200 RPS
POST /v3/events72,000 RPH20 RPS
POST /v3/orders/status36,000 RPH10 RPS
POST /v3/products14,400 RPH4 RPS
All endpoints under /v3/smtp/{…}*600 RPH-
All endpoints under /v3/contacts/{…}72,000 RPH20 RPS
GET /v3/loyalty/config
All endpoints under /v3/loyalty/{…}		1,200 RPH-
All other endpoints200 RPH-
*Excludes POST /v3/smtp/email and GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts, which have dedicated limits.

Extended rate limits

Available in
Free
Starter
Standard
Professional
Enterprise
RoutePolicy
POST /v3/smtp/email
GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts		6,000 RPS
GET /v3/smtp/emails18,000 RPH
POST /v3/transactionalSMS/send250 RPS
POST /v3/orders/status15 RPS
POST /v3/products21,600 RPH
All endpoints under /v3/smtp/{…}*1,800 RPH
All endpoints under /v3/contacts/{…}60 RPS
GET /v3/loyalty/config
All endpoints under /v3/loyalty/{…}		3,600 RPH
POST /v3/events60 RPS
All other endpoints600 RPH
*Excludes POST /v3/smtp/email and GET /v3/smtp/blockedContacts, which have dedicated limits.

Handling rate limit errors

When you exceed a rate limit, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests status code. Follow these practices to avoid rate limit errors:

Distribute requests evenly

Calculate your rate limit allowance and distribute requests evenly across the time window. For example, with a limit of 1,000 RPS, you can send up to 60,000 requests per minute when distributed evenly.

Upgrade to Enterprise

If your application requires higher throughput, upgrade to an Enterprise plan for increased rate limits.

Use webhooks for statistics

Instead of polling endpoints for statistics, implement webhooks to receive event-driven updates. This reduces API calls and improves efficiency.

Related resources

Rate limit headers

The API includes rate limit headers in all responses to help you monitor usage and implement retry logic. See the rate limit headers guide for details.

Platform quotas

Rate limits control request frequency, while platform quotas cap the number of objects you can create (campaigns, contacts, lists, etc.). See the platform quotas guide for object creation limits in Brevo.