429 Too Many Requests

What This Error Means

The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.

Rate limit exceeded.

Common Causes

• API rate limit exceeded
• Too many login attempts
• DDoS protection triggered
• Scraping detected

How to Fix It (For Visitors)

• Wait before retrying
• Slow down request rate
• Try again later

How to Fix It (For Developers/Admins)

• Implement exponential backoff
• Check Retry-After header
• Reduce request frequency
• Cache responses
• Use request queuing

Code Examples

Here's how to return a 429 status code in various programming languages:

Python (Flask)

from flask import Flask, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/endpoint')
def endpoint():
    return jsonify({"message": "Too Many Requests"}), 429

Node.js (Express)

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/endpoint', (req, res) => {
    res.status(429).json({ message: 'Too Many Requests' });
});

PHP

<?php
http_response_code(429);
header('Content-Type: application/json');
echo json_encode(['message' => 'Too Many Requests']);
?>

Go

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "net/http"
)

func handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
    w.WriteHeader(429)
    json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]string{
        "message": "Too Many Requests",
    })
}

Java (Spring Boot)

@GetMapping("/endpoint")
public ResponseEntity<Map<String, String>> endpoint() {
    Map<String, String> response = new HashMap<>();
    response.put("message", "Too Many Requests");
    return ResponseEntity.status(429).body(response);
}

Ruby (Sinatra)

get '/endpoint' do
    status 429
    json message: 'Too Many Requests'
end

Browser Compatibility

Browser	Support	Notes
Chrome	✓ Full Support	All versions
Firefox	✓ Full Support	All versions
Safari	✓ Full Support	All versions
Edge	✓ Full Support	All versions

Official Specification

This status code is defined in RFC 6585.

View on IANA HTTP Status Code Registry →