# 429 Too Many Requests

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

Source: https://apiguide.dev/status-codes/429
Class: client-error
Defined in: RFC 6585 <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6585.html>
Updated: 2026-10-14

## What does HTTP status code 429 mean?

The 429 Too Many Requests status code indicates that the client has exceeded their allowed rate limits or quotas.

## When to use it in APIs

Standard response for rate limiters. Include [`Retry-After`](/headers/retry-after) to say when to try again, and the [`RateLimit`](/headers/ratelimit) and [`RateLimit-Policy`](/headers/ratelimit-policy) fields to show the remaining quota and the policy that was exceeded.

## How it compares to other codes

* **503 Service Unavailable**: Represents a server-side capacity outage. 429 represents a client-side quota violation.