Rate Limits

In order to maintain an efficient, secure, and high-performing API, Bitly places limits on the amount of data that can be consumed in any given period. There are two types of rate limits that will affect your usage: plan limits and platform limits.

Retrieve your current limits and usage via the API.

For platform limits GET /v4/user/platform_limits

For plan limits GET /v4/organizations/{organization_guid}/plan_limits

Platform limits

Platform limits apply to all accounts, regardless of subscription plan. Bitly enforces per-hour, per-minute, and per-IP rate limits for each API endpoint.

IP address limit: API users are limited to a maximum of five concurrent connections from a single IP address.

Hourly limits: The rate limits reset once each hour and once each minute. The per-minute limit is one-tenth of the hourly limit. So if your limit for the /v4/shorten endpoint is 1,000 calls per hour, it will also be limited to 100 calls per minute.

Requesting higher hourly limits: Increasing platform limits requires a subscription to a custom enterprise-level account. To discuss an increase to your hourly limits, please contact your account manager for assistance.

Plan limits

From our free plan to our customized enterprise-level plans, every Bitly account has a monthly limit on the number of transactions its users can take. Monthly limits reset on the first of the month. Your plan’s monthly limits affect your API use in two ways:

First, each plan has a limit on the number of API requests that can be made in a month.

Second, each plan has limits for short links, custom back-halves, redirects, and more. Each of those limits corresponds to an API endpoint. Your monthly limits apply across all transactions in the API and the Bitly apps.

For customers who upgraded through our website, you can find your limits and features on our pricing page. If you have an Enterprise or custom plan, please consult your contract or contact your account manager for your plan's details.

You can also find your monthly limits in your account settings: Log in to Bitly, click Settings in the left sidebar, then click Billing & usage below the appropriate account name. Check under Monthly usage for your limits for API Requests, links, and more.

Requesting higher monthly limits To increase your plan limits or access unavailable features, you will need to subscribe to a higher plan or contact your account manager for assistance.

Reaching a limit: The 429 error

If you exceed your per-hour or per-minute call limit, you will receive a 'RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED' 429 error message. You'll then need to wait for one hour or one minute (depending on which rate limit you've hit) to resume making API calls to that endpoint.

If you reach your monthly limit for API requests, you'll receive an 'API_USAGE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED' 429 error.

If you contact Bitly Support to help you with troubleshooting an API limit issue, please include:

A description of how you are using the Bitly API.
Which API endpoints you are using.
An estimate of current request volumes for a 24-hour period.
The email associated with your Bitly account.