API Rate Limit Calculator
Convert any API rate limit (per second, minute, hour, day, or month) into daily and monthly quotas instantly. Free, no sign-up. Great for planning API usage.
Added May 11, 2026
Input
Result
Enter a value for rate limit value to see your result.
How it works
Converts any API rate limit (per second, minute, hour, day, or month) into equivalent quotas across all time periods. Use it to plan request throughput, check if your usage pattern fits under a plan limit, or estimate monthly call volumes before choosing an API tier.
Formula
Daily quota = (Limit ÷ Period seconds) × 86 400
- Limit
- Your rate limit value
- Period seconds
- Duration of the rate-limit window in seconds (e.g. 60 for per-minute, 3 600 for per-hour)
- 86 400
- Seconds per day (60 × 60 × 24)
Step by step
- 01Enter your rate limit value and the period it applies to (e.g. 100 per minute).
- 02The calculator normalises the limit to requests per second, then scales to minute, hour, day, and month.
- 03Active hours per day models a shorter daily window — useful if your app only runs during business hours.
- 04Safe sustained RPS is the maximum constant rate that stays within your daily budget given active hours.
Examples
Free-tier · 100 req/min
A 100 req/min plan allows 1.67 requests per second sustained and 144,000 requests per day — about 4.3M per month.
Inputs
- Rate limit value:
- 100
- Per:
- minute
- Active hours per day:
- 24
- Days per month:
- 30
Result
- Per second:
- 1.67 req/s
- Per day:
- 144,000 req/day
Real-time API · 10 req/s · 8h active
10 req/s for 8 active hours yields 288,000 per day and ~6.3 M per month on a 22-day work schedule.
Inputs
- Rate limit value:
- 10
- Per:
- second
- Active hours per day:
- 8
- Days per month:
- 22
Result
- Per day:
- 288,000 req/day
- Per month:
- 6,336,000 req/month
Frequently asked questions
What is an API rate limit?
An API rate limit caps the number of requests a client can make within a defined time window. Common formats include 100 requests per minute, 1 000 requests per hour, or 10 requests per second. Exceeding the limit usually returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests.
What is RPS and why does it matter?
RPS stands for requests per second — the most granular unit of API throughput. Even if your plan states a per-minute or per-hour limit, converting to RPS helps you design back-off logic and ensures your sustained request rate never consumes the budget too quickly.
How do I stay under a rate limit without complex code?
The simplest approach is to insert a small delay between requests: delay_ms = 1 000 ÷ rps. For burst-heavy workloads, use a token bucket or leaky-bucket algorithm in your request queue to smooth traffic and absorb short spikes without hitting the cap.
What is the difference between rate limiting and throttling?
Rate limiting enforces a hard cap — requests over the limit are rejected with HTTP 429. Throttling usually slows requests down rather than rejecting them — you still receive responses, just more slowly. Both are server-enforced; the quota math is the same from the client side.
Why is 'active hours per day' useful?
If your service only runs during business hours (e.g. 8 h/day), your per-second or per-minute quota produces the same daily allowance — but you're spending it in a shorter window. Setting active hours to 8 shows the lower safe RPS you can sustain without exhausting the daily quota before business hours end.