Rate Limits

Rate limits protect the API from abuse and ensure fair usage across all accounts.

Limits by plan

Two independent limits apply per request: one per API key and one per user account. The stricter of the two wins.

The per-user limit prevents limit multiplication across many keys on the same account.

Rate limit headers

Every API response includes headers showing your current usage:

Example:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 300
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 287
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1710512400

Handling 429 responses

When you exceed the limit, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header indicating how many seconds to wait:

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1710512400

const res = await fetch("https://api.formtorch.com/v1/forms", {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FORMTORCH_API_KEY}` },
});
 
if (res.status === 429) {
  const retryAfter = parseInt(res.headers.get("Retry-After") ?? "60", 10);
  console.warn(`Rate limited. Retry after ${retryAfter}s`);
  // Queue the request or surface an error to the user
}