Global Limits

Brevo enforces global rate limits across all API endpoints to ensure fair usage and optimal performance.

Rate Limit Tiers

Free Plan

• Daily Limit: 300 requests
• Hourly Limit: 50 requests
• Burst Limit: 10 requests/minute
• Email Credits: 300/month

Starter Plan

• Daily Limit: 20,000 requests
• Hourly Limit: 1,000 requests
• Burst Limit: 100 requests/minute
• Email Credits: Unlimited

Business Plan

• Daily Limit: 50,000 requests
• Hourly Limit: 3,000 requests
• Burst Limit: 300 requests/minute
• Email Credits: Unlimited

Enterprise Plan

• Daily Limit: Custom (100,000+)
• Hourly Limit: Custom (10,000+)
• Burst Limit: Custom (1,000+/minute)
• Email Credits: Unlimited

Rate Limit Headers

Every API response includes rate limit information:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
X-RateLimit-Limit: 1000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 999
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1640995200
X-RateLimit-Retry-After: 3600

Header Descriptions

• X-RateLimit-Limit: Total requests allowed in current window
• X-RateLimit-Remaining: Requests left in current window
• X-RateLimit-Reset: Unix timestamp when limit resets
• X-RateLimit-Retry-After: Seconds to wait before retry

Monitoring Usage

Check Current Usage

const checkRateLimit = async () => {
  const response = await fetch('https://api.brevo.com/v3/account', {
    headers: { 'api-key': process.env.BREVO_API_KEY }
  });

  console.log({
    limit: response.headers.get('X-RateLimit-Limit'),
    remaining: response.headers.get('X-RateLimit-Remaining'),
    reset: new Date(response.headers.get('X-RateLimit-Reset') * 1000)
  });
};

Dashboard Monitoring

1. Login to your Brevo dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
3. View Usage for each API key
4. Set Alerts for approaching limits

Rate Limit Reset Windows

• Daily limits: Reset at 00:00 UTC
• Hourly limits: Reset every hour at :00 minutes
• Burst limits: Sliding window (last 60 seconds)

Handling Rate Limits

Exponential Backoff

const makeRequestWithBackoff = async (url, options, maxRetries = 3) => {
  for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
    try {
      const response = await fetch(url, options);

      if (response.status === 429) {
        const retryAfter = response.headers.get('X-RateLimit-Retry-After') || 60;
        const delay = Math.min(1000 * Math.pow(2, i), retryAfter * 1000);

        console.log(`Rate limited. Waiting ${delay}ms before retry ${i + 1}`);
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, delay));
        continue;
      }

      return response;
    } catch (error) {
      if (i === maxRetries - 1) throw error;
    }
  }
};

Plan Upgrades

When you consistently hit rate limits:

1. Analyze Usage: Review which endpoints you use most
2. Optimize Code: Implement caching and batching
3. Consider Upgrade: Move to higher tier if needed
4. Contact Sales: For enterprise requirements

Rate Limit Exceptions

Webhook Endpoints

• Not subject to standard rate limits
• Separate webhook delivery limits apply

Health Check Endpoint

• /v3/ping has relaxed limits
• Designed for monitoring and uptime checks

Batch Operations

• Count as single request but may have payload limits
• More efficient than multiple individual requests