Wirebook › Glossary › Rate limit
What is a rate limit?
In one sentence: A rule that slows down anyone making too many requests, to keep a service healthy for everyone.
A little more
A rate limit caps how many requests one visitor can make in a period, for example 60 a minute. Go over and the server answers with status code 429 Too Many Requests, often saying how long to wait.
It keeps one runaway script, or one very keen visitor, from slowing the service down for everybody else.
It's a bit like… "Only two cakes each" at a bake sale, so there's enough for everyone in the queue.