Introduction
Rate limiting refers to the process of limiting the number of requests that can be sent to a server simultaneously, per second or any other time interval. Many developers implement rate limiting to prevent users from overloading their servers and causing them to become unresponsive or crash.
REST APIs (e.g. currencyapi.com) are a widely spread interface standard that allows you to access data and functionality through HTTP requests, which are then processed by backend services such as databases, caches, etc.
You should implement rate limiting because it helps ensure that your APIs don’t become overloaded with traffic and thus unusable. by malicious or unintentional users who may overload them intentionally or inadvertently through excessive use.
Why you should implement rate limiting
Implementing rate limiting is an easy way to ensure your REST API is available for everyone, protect your servers from being overloaded, avoid downtime and reduce costs.
It will also help you reduce support costs by providing a smoother user experience for those who don’t abuse the service.
Rate limiting is a common practice for APIs, but it’s not always an easy thing to implement. This article will help you set up rate limiting on your REST API using Akka HTTP and Play Framework.
How to implement rate limiting in your APIs
You can use a token-based approach to implement rate limiting in your REST APIs. A token is an identifier that’s generated by your server and given to the user when they make a request. The user sends this token along with all future requests. Your server then uses the token to check whether the client has exceeded their allotted quota for that specific type of request (e.g., sending images). If so, it returns an error message instead of fulfilling their request.
This method works well because it allows you to set different rates based on how often users perform different types of actions; however, there are some downsides, as you need to store all tokens somewhere (either locally on each client machine or remotely on your backend database) so that they can be used later when making requests again
There are several ways to limit the number of requests that can be made in a given time frame
There are several ways to limit the number of requests that can be made in a given time frame. The most common is rate limiting at the server, which requires storing data about each request and keeping track of how many requests have been made by each user. This method adds complexity to your application and has to be implemented separately from your API if you want it available for all clients. Another option is client-side rate limiting using JavaScript or another language like Python or Ruby on Rails; this approach also requires additional implementation work as well as maintaining state across multiple pages (for example, if you’re implementing pagination). A third option is middle-tier-based rate limiting. This means implementing some kind of service between your API and its clients that handles rate limiting on its own without requiring any changes within either party’s codebase but still providing them with accurate information about their usage statistics over time so they know when they need more resources allocated toward increasing capacity levels or upgrading hardware/software infrastructure hardware such as SSD drives instead of relying solely upon physical hard drive space capacity alone.”
Summary
Rate limiting can be implemented at the client or server, and there are many ways of doing so depending on your setup and infrastructure. You can use HTTP headers or response codes to implement rate limiting, depending on whether you want to be more flexible with how clients handle failed requests or if you want them to always fail gracefully when exceeding their limits.
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