Is there a limit of webhook triggered automation runs per minute/second

[Jaco]

We have built an automation that syncs data from our CRM with Airtable. Each insert/update/delete in the CRM post a message to a webhook created from an Automation. This works perfectly fine for single transactions in the CRM but for a bulk update or an import in the CRM of e.g. 500 records it only processes a limited number of records (e.g. 168 out of 800).

Is there a limitation in the number of instances of a script that can run in parallel? And if so, is there a way in Airtable to work around this as I have no idea to buffer the webhooks coming in.

[ScottWorld]

I’m not sure if there is a limit to how many times a webhook can be triggered per minute/second. You may want to email support@airtable.com about that, and post back here with what they say.

However, there are 2 other limitations:

1. Each webhook request has a maximum payload size limit of 100kb per request. So if you’re sending 800 records at a time to your webhook, it’s possible that you’re going over the 100kb limit.

2. Your billing plan for your workspace will give you a limited amount of automation runs that you can execute per month. Each triggered webhook counts as one automation run.

If you’re continuing to have problems with Airtable’s webhooks, I would highly recommend using the professional webhooks from Make, because they have no limits at all. No size limits, no run limits, and no limits on the number of times that you can trigger a webhook. They also offer custom webhook responses and custom mailhooks, too.

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

if you’re sending 800 records at a time to your webhook, it’s possible that you’re going over the 100kb limit.

One webhook will not include 500 changed records from the CRM. Pretty sure this is not what’s happening.

ScottWorld:

the professional webhooks from Make, because they have no limits at all.

So, I could run a trillion webhooks and there would be no phone call or consequences from Make?

Jaco:

for a bulk update or an import in the CRM of e.g. 500 records it only processes a limited number of records

Importing a big change into the CRM typically impacts any outbound webhooks one record at a time. But, this is likely to be very fast and will overload the available webworkers on the Airtable webhook receiver which I think is limited to five simultaneous workers at a time (I suspect records in excess are simply ignored by Airtable). I have a hunch the limit is identical to the API limit (5 per second I think).

The challenge is to throttle the CRM at times like this by ensuring that bulk injections include a status field of some type that either the CRM uses to avoid firing the web hooks or such field is used on the Airtable side to ignore such bulk entries. Then, use a more gated process to introduce these new uploaded entries into Airtable in a distributed fashion over time such as when that status flag is lifted, allow it to be posted to Airtable.

[Adam_Minich]

Hey @Jaco,

Adam here from the Airtable Support Content Ops team. Great question on the limit. Currently, the limit is 5 webhook requests per second along with the other 100kb size limit that Scott mentioned. I’ve gone ahead and updated our documentation to reflect that in the FAQs section. Hope this helps and thanks for tagging me in @ScottWorld

[ScottWorld]

Hi @Adam_Minich,

Thanks! In your post above, you wrote 5 requests per minute, but in the FAQ on the support article, it says 5 requests per second. Is it 5 per second or 5 per minute?

Thanks,
Scott

[kuovonne]

ScottWorld:

a limited amount of automation runs that you can execute per month (per base)

The limit on automation runs is per workspace, not per base.

[ScottWorld]

kuovonne:

The limit on automation runs is per workspace, not per base

Oh wow, thanks for clarifying. That’s an even greater restriction than what I thought it was! I’ve edited my post above.

[Jaco]

I had some conversations with Airtable staff on the issue and they explained:

• Each individual automation can run max. 5 per second – if you request more (like I did, they are simply ignored: e.g. processed 168 out of 800 during a batch update).
• You can trigger max. 50.000 automation runs per month (Pro) and 500.000 per month (Enterprise) for each base.

[ScottWorld]

Jaco:

• Each individual automation can run max. 5 per second – if you request more (like I did, they are simply ignored: e.g. processed 168 out of 800 during a batch update).

@Adam_Minich of Airtable will need to clarify for us whether this is 5 per second or 5 per minute.

• You can trigger max. 50.000 automation runs per month (Pro) and 500.000 per month (Enterprise) for each base.

As @kuovonne mentioned above, this is (sadly) per workspace, not per base. @Adam_Minich It might be nice to clarify this on Airtable’s pricing page.

[Adam_Minich]

Whoops! Fixed that. It’s per second.