> This page is for version v2026-02-09 (default).
> For other versions, use one of these documentation indexes:
> - v2026-02-09 (default): https://docs.extend.ai/2026-02-09/llms.txt
> - v2025-04-21: https://docs.extend.ai/2025-04-21/llms.txt
> - v2024-12-23: https://docs.extend.ai/2024-12-23/llms.txt

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.extend.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
>
> ## API version
> The current API version is `2026-02-09`, served at the site root (no version prefix in URLs).
> If this page URL contains `/2025-04-21/` or `/2024-12-23/`, you are reading an older API version.
> Prefer the current docs at https://docs.extend.ai/llms.txt unless the user explicitly needs that older version.
> Do not treat older-version pages as the source of truth for new integrations.

# Rate Limits

> Extend API rate limits by plan tier — per-endpoint request limits, processor throughput, workspace-level overrides, and how to handle 429 responses.

Extend enforces rate limits at the organization level to ensure system stability and fair resource allocation.

## How rate limits are structured

Rate limits are applied per category. Each category has its own rate limit, and hitting the limit for one category does not affect the others.

**Endpoint request limits** are grouped by operation type:

* **GET** — read endpoints (retrieving runs, listing resources, fetching results)
* **WRITE** — mutating endpoints that don't trigger processing (creating processors, updating configuration)
* **RUN** — endpoints that submit files for processing (running processors, running workflows, batch endpoints)

**Processor throughput** is a separate limit on the number of files processed per minute across your organization. One unit of throughput equals processing one file through any of the following operations:

* Classification
* Extraction
* Splitting
* Parsing
* Editing

## Limits by plan

| Plan       | GET / WRITE / RUN (requests per second) | Processor Throughput (files per minute) |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| PAYG       | 10                                      | 80                                      |
| Scale      | 25+                                     | 120+                                    |
| Enterprise | 75+                                     | 300+                                    |

## Workspace-level rate limits

Organization admins can set per-workspace rate limits that apply on top of the organization's limits. This is useful for protecting workspaces from potential overuse by a single team or environment, and for ensuring more equitable distribution of resources across your organization.

* Workspace limits can only be set below the organization's limit for each category.
* If a workspace limit is not set, the workspace inherits the organization's limit.
* Organization-wide limits always apply, even if the sum of workspace limits exceeds them.

## Handling rate limits

When you exceed a rate limit, the API responds with HTTP `429 Too Many Requests` and the error code `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED`. This error is `retryable` — see [Error Handling](/api-reference/error-handling) for the full error shape.

```http
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "code": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "message": "Too many requests. Back off and retry.",
  "retryable": true
}
```

To handle this gracefully:

* **Back off and retry.** Retry the request with exponential backoff and jitter. If a `Retry-After` header is present on the response, wait at least that many seconds before retrying.
* **Prefer async for volume.** For high-throughput workloads, use the asynchronous run endpoints and [batch processing](/general/batch-processing) rather than driving many synchronous calls.

The official SDKs retry retryable responses (including `429`) automatically with backoff.

## Need higher limits?

The `+` on the Scale and Enterprise tiers indicates the limits are negotiated and tied to committed volume — they start at the listed value and increase from there. If you'd like to get higher rate limits, please reach out to the Extend team.