Products
Set rate limits on a plan
Set quotas and throttling on a plan's Limits tab. Rate limits are Gateway-bound only, so the Limits tab is disabled on Catalog-bound plans.
You set a plan's quotas and throttling on its Limits tab. Rate limits run on one API gateway, so the Limits tab is available on Gateway-bound plans only. On a Catalog-bound plan the tab is disabled. The fields you see depend on which gateway the plan is bound to.
Why is the Limits tab disabled on my plan?
The plan is Catalog-bound. Rate limits run on one gateway, and a Catalog-bound plan draws APIs from across your API Catalog, so it has no single gateway to enforce against. The tab is enabled only on Gateway-bound plans.
When the plan is Catalog-bound, the Limits tab shows the message "Rate limits are not available for Catalog-bound plans. Switch to Gateway-bound on the APIs tab to configure rate limits." The same text appears as the tab's tooltip. Switch the plan to Gateway-bound on the APIs tab to turn the tab on.
What rate limit fields can I set?
The fields depend on the gateway the plan is bound to. Apiable shows the rate limit form for AWS gateways and for Kong Community Edition gateways. Each form maps to that gateway's own rate limit model.
| Gateway | Fields |
|---|---|
| AWS | A Quota (a Quota Limit over a Quota Period of MONTH, WEEK, or DAY) and Throttling (a Throttle RateLimit and a Throttle BurstLimit). |
| Kong Community Edition | A request ceiling per Second, Minute, Hour, DAY, MONTH, and Year. |
On a Gateway-bound plan on any other gateway, including Kong Enterprise Edition, the Limits tab reads "The function of set limit for apis from this gateway type is under construction!" and offers no fields.
How do I set rate limits on an AWS plan?
Open the plan's Limits tab, turn on Quota, Throttling, or both, fill in the fields, then save.
- Open the Gateway-bound plan and select the Limits tab.
- Toggle Quota to active. Set a Quota Limit (the number of requests) and a Quota Period of MONTH, WEEK, or DAY.
- Toggle Throttling to active. Set a Throttle RateLimit in requests per second and a Throttle BurstLimit in requests.
- Leave a section inactive to apply no limit of that kind.
- Click Save Changes on the plan.
While Quota is inactive the tab notes that the plan has no quota, and while Throttling is inactive it notes that the plan has no throttling. Turning a section off clears its values.
How do I set rate limits on a Kong plan?
On a Kong Community Edition gateway, open the Limits tab and enter a request ceiling for any of the six periods. Higher periods must allow at least as many requests as lower ones.
- Open the Gateway-bound plan and select the Limits tab.
- Enter a value for any of Second, Minute, Hour, DAY, MONTH, or Year.
- Keep the values non-decreasing as the period grows. A per-minute ceiling below the per-second ceiling is flagged.
- Leave a period blank to apply no limit for that window.
- Click Save Changes on the plan.
If a longer period allows fewer requests than a shorter one, the form shows "Invalidate rate limit input!". Correct the values before you save the plan.
Troubleshooting
Match what the Limits tab shows to the fix.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The Limits tab is greyed out with "Rate limits are not available for Catalog-bound plans. Switch to Gateway-bound on the APIs tab to configure rate limits." | The plan is Catalog-bound. Switch it to Gateway-bound on the APIs tab. |
| "Pick a coupling mode on the APIs tab to configure rate limits." | The plan has no coupling chosen yet. Pick Gateway-bound or Catalog-bound on the APIs tab. If your APIs tab shows no coupling cards, save the plan once; the Limits tab then shows its fields. |
| "Rate limits are only enforceable when all plan APIs live on the same gateway. Remove catalog entries from other gateways, or unset the rate limit to save this plan." | The plan's APIs span more than one gateway, or the plan has no APIs yet. Add the plan's APIs from one gateway on the APIs tab, or clear the rate limit. |
| A message asking you to select an API Gateway under the APIs tab | The plan has no gateway bound. Select a gateway and add its APIs on the APIs tab. |
| "The function of set limit for apis from this gateway type is under construction!" | The plan's gateway is neither AWS nor Kong Community Edition. Rate limit fields are not offered for that gateway type. |
| The fields are read-only | The plan has active or pending subscriptions. Create a new plan version to change its rate limits. |