Skip to main content

I am trying to understand how Airtable API Rate limits work.
It says

The API is limited to 5 requests per second per base. If you exceed this rate, you will receive a 429 status code and will need to wait 30 seconds before subsequent requests will succeed.

Is the limit per base per API key or per base per IP address?. Saw an answer in the forum but it is 4 years old and mentions airtable plans to change how it works.

I ran a simple code to try and trigger rate limiting but airtable api was able to successfully respond to more than 20 api requests per second without running into api throttling

Welcome to the Airtable community!

Are you referring the the 4 year old information in this thread?

You might be temporarily able to use a higher rate limit per this post from about a year ago.

Could you share a little more about how you are accessing the Standard REST API?
Were all of your requests from the same API key to the same base from the same IP address?

Were you using a library to access the API, that has built in logic to either space out requests or to retry requests?

Were you possibly using a different API, such as the Scripting API? The Scripting API has different rate limits.

In 2025, Airtable’s REST API still enforces roughly 5 requests per second per base, though in practice small bursts can pass before the rate limiter fully triggers.

What changed over the years is how Airtable smooths spikes newer infrastructure allows short bursts without immediate 429 errors, but sustained overuse will still pause your requests for about 30 seconds. It’s worth checking the official Rate Limits guide and API basics documentation for the most current enforcement details.

For high-volume or multi-base workflows, teams in 2025 often rely on event-driven sync tools like Stacksync, which automatically manages rate limits, retries, and batching under the hood while keeping Airtable in real-time sync with systems like Postgres or Salesforce

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement