Rate Limiting

TMDb enforces rate limits to ensure fair usage and maintain API stability. This page explains how rate limiting works, how to handle rate limit errors, and best practices for optimizing API requests.

Rate Limits Overview

The rate limit depends on your API key type:

API Key Type	Requests per Second	Requests per Day
Free	40	100,000
Pro	80	200,000
Enterprise	200	500,000

⚠️ Exceeding these limits will result in a 429 Too Many Requests error.

Handling Rate Limits

When you hit the rate limit, the API responds with:

{
  "status_code": 25,
  "status_message": "Too many requests. Try again later.",
  "retry_after": 10
}

Retry Strategy

• Check the Retry-After header to see how long to wait before making another request.
• Implement exponential backoff to avoid being blocked.
• Use caching to store frequent API responses instead of making unnecessary requests.

Best Practices to Avoid Rate Limiting

• Only request the data you need using query parameters.
• Store API responses locally to minimize redundant requests.
• Reduce the number of requests by fetching multiple items at once.
• Track your API calls to avoid unexpected rate limit hits.

Need Higher Limits?

If you need more requests, consider upgrading to a Pro or Enterprise plan. Contact TMDb Support for details.

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For more information, see our API Documentation.