Rate Limits

API rate limits, WebSocket connection limits, and quotas by subscription tier.

Tier Limits

Feature	Sandbox (7-day evaluation)	Basic	Pro	Ultra	Agency
API Requests	5,000/day	10,000/day	75,000/day	300,000/day	1,000,000/day
WebSocket Connections	3	20	50	250	500
New WebSocket Connects	60/hour	-	-	-	-
WebSocket Duration	2 hours	8 hours	12 hours	24 hours	24 hours
Bulk Check Users	5	10	50	100	200
Rate (per minute)	20 req/min	30 req/min	120 req/min	300 req/min	1,000 req/min

Sandbox is a free 7-day evaluation counted from the day your account was created. After it ends, REST calls return 403 and WebSocket connections close with 4401 (“Evaluation period ended”) until the account moves to a paid plan (Basic, Pro, Ultra, or Agency). See tik.tools/pricing for current plans and prices.

Rate Limit Headers

Every API response includes rate limit information:

Header	Description
X-RateLimit-Limit	Maximum requests allowed in the current window
X-RateLimit-Remaining	Remaining requests before throttling
X-RateLimit-Reset	Unix timestamp when the rate limit window resets

Handling Rate Limits

When you exceed your rate limit, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests:

{
  "status_code": 429,
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded. Please wait before making more requests."
}

Best Practices

1. Check headers - Monitor X-RateLimit-Remaining to avoid hitting limits
2. Implement backoff - Use exponential backoff when receiving 429 responses
3. Cache results - Cache check_alive and room_info responses when polling
4. Use WebSocket - For real-time data, WebSocket is more efficient than polling REST

Check Your Limits

Use the /webcast/rate_limits endpoint to see your current quota:

curl "https://api.tik.tools/webcast/rate_limits?apiKey=YOUR_KEY"

{
  "status_code": 0,
  "data": {
    "tier": "basic",
    "api": { "limit": 30, "remaining": 28, "reset_at": 1234567890 },
    "websocket": { "limit": 20, "current": 2 }
  }
}