Rate limits

Each API key has a per-minute request limit. It applies to every /v1 request — submitting and polling tasks.

Response headers

Every response includes your current limit state:

Header	Meaning
X-RateLimit-Limit	Requests allowed per minute for this key.
X-RateLimit-Remaining	Requests left in the current window.
X-RateLimit-Reset	Unix epoch second when the window resets.

When you exceed it

Over-limit requests return 429 with code serpapi.rate_limited and a Retry-After header (seconds to wait):

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0

Handling limits

• Honor Retry-After when present.
• Use exponential backoff with jitter on 429, rather than a fixed retry.
• Keep polling loops gentle (see Task lifecycle) — aggressive polling is the most common way to hit the limit.

Need a higher limit? Contact us from your dashboard.