Rate limiting
Rate limiting is the practice of capping how many requests a client can make in a given window of time, used to protect servers from overload and to keep automated traffic polite and predictable.
Rate limiting controls how frequently a client may call a service. A limit might be expressed as requests per second, per minute, or per day, and a server that receives too many requests too quickly will typically slow them down or reject them with a status like 429 Too Many Requests. The goal is to keep a service stable and to share capacity fairly among users.
Rate limiting matters in two directions for web extraction. Target sites may rate limit incoming traffic to protect themselves, so polite, well-paced requests are part of responsible scraping. At the same time, an extraction API applies its own limits and plan quotas so the service stays reliable for everyone.
Extracto fits both sides. It works on any public HTTPS URL at a responsible cadence rather than hammering a target site. On the account side, the free plan includes 100 pages with no credit card, and paid plans start at $14 per month, so your usage maps to a clear, predictable quota.
Examples
Hitting a 429
If you send requests to a site faster than it allows, it may respond with 429 Too Many Requests. Spacing your calls out and retrying after a short pause keeps your access polite and stable.
Planning around a quota
With a free plan of 100 pages, you can extract from 100 URLs before needing a paid plan. Knowing the quota up front lets you batch a project to fit, then upgrade once you scale past it.
See also
Rate limiting: FAQ
What does a 429 status code mean when scraping?
How does rate limiting relate to Extracto's pricing?
Want to put this into practice? Extracto extracts structured data from a URL using a JSON schema, with the result validated before it leaves the API. Try the live demo or read the docs.