Advanced

Rate Limits

Rate limiting protects the QuizAPI infrastructure and ensures fair usage across all consumers. Limits are applied per IP address.

Current Limits

All API requests are rate limited to 60 requests per minute per IP address. When the limit is reached, subsequent requests will be rejected with a 429 status until the window resets.

Scope	Limit	Window
Per IP address	60 requests	1 minute

Response Headers

When rate limited, the API returns a Retry-After header indicating how many seconds to wait before retrying.

Header	Present On	Description
`Retry-After`	429 responses	Number of seconds to wait before retrying (currently 60)

Successful Response

http

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Retry-After: 60

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [ ... ]
}

When You Are Rate Limited

When your request rate exceeds the limit, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response with a Retry-After header indicating how many seconds to wait before retrying (60 seconds).

http

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Content-Type: application/json
Retry-After: 60

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later."
}

Best Practices

Cache responses client-side

Store API responses locally to avoid making redundant requests. Quiz data does not change frequently, so caching for a few minutes can dramatically reduce your request count.

Use exponential backoff

When you receive a 429 response, wait and retry with increasing delays. Add random jitter to prevent thundering herd problems when multiple clients retry simultaneously.

Monitor your usage via the dashboard

The Dashboard shows your real-time and historical API usage. Set up alerts to get notified before you approach your monthly limit.

Contact support for custom limits

If your application requires higher rate limits than what your current plan provides, reach out via email to discuss custom limits tailored to your needs.

Exponential Backoff Example

Here is a JavaScript utility function that automatically retries rate-limited requests with exponential backoff and jitter.

javascript

async function fetchWithBackoff(url, options, maxRetries = 3) {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    const response = await fetch(url, options);

    if (response.status !== 429) {
      return response;
    }

    // Get the retry delay from the Retry-After header
    const retryAfter = parseInt(
      response.headers.get("Retry-After") || "1",
      10
    );

    // Use exponential backoff with jitter
    const delay = retryAfter * 1000 + Math.random() * 1000;

    console.log(
      `Rate limited. Retrying in ${Math.round(delay / 1000)}s ` +
      `(attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries})`
    );

    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, delay));
  }

  throw new Error("Max retries exceeded");
}

Handling Rate Limits in Code

Check the response status code to detect rate limiting, and use the Retry-After header to determine when to retry.

javascript

// Check if you've been rate limited by inspecting the status code
const response = await fetch("https://quizapi.io/api/v1/quizzes", {
  headers: { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" },
});

if (response.status === 429) {
  const retryAfter = response.headers.get("Retry-After") || "60";
  console.log(`Rate limited. Retry after ${retryAfter} seconds.`);
} else {
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log("Quizzes:", data.data);
}