Rate Limits

Many API endpoints are rate limited. Once you exceed a certain number of requests in a specific period, Datadog returns an error.

If you are rate limited, you can see a 429 in the response code. You can either wait the designated time by the X-RateLimit-Period before making calls again, or switch to making calls at a frequency slightly longer than the X-RateLimit-Limit or X-RateLimit-Period.

Rate limits can be increased from the defaults by contacting the Datadog support team.

Regarding the API rate limit policy:

• Datadog does not rate limit on data point/metric submission (see metrics section for more info on how the metric submission rate is handled). Limits encounter is dependent on the quantity of custom metrics based on your agreement.
• The API for sending logs is not rate limited.
• The rate limit for event submission is 500,000 events per hour per organization.
• The rate limits for endpoints vary and are included in the headers detailed below. These can be extended on demand.

Datadog API usage metrics

All Datadog APIs have a usage limit for a given period of time. APIs can have unique, distinct rate limit buckets or be grouped together into a single bucket depending on the resource(s) being used. For example, the monitor status API has a rate limit that allows a human or automation script to query only so many times per minute. The endpoint rejects excess requests with a 429 response code and a hint to back off until a reset period has expired. API usage metrics allow Datadog users to self-service and audit API rate limit consumption for API endpoints (excluding metrics, logs, and event submission endpoints). These metrics provide a picture of allowed and blocked requests, and are provided with the following dimensions and available tags:

Available metrics

Tag key

Rollup in widgets

Metric visualizations should generally be rolled up to the minute using sum(60s) to aggregate the total number of requests per minute.

Ratio metrics are already normalized to the corresponding limit_period.

Example use cases

Requests by rate limit name

Graph the sum of datadog.apis.usage.per_org, datadog.apis.usage.per_user, and datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key by limit_name

Example: default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_org{*} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_user{*} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key{*} by {limit_name})

Blocked by rate limit name

Graph the sum of datadog.apis.usage.per_org, datadog.apis.usage.per_user, and datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key by limit_name with rate_limit_status:blocked

Example: default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_org{rate_limit_status:blocked} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_user{rate_limit_status:blocked} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key{rate_limit_status:blocked} by {limit_name})

Blocked endpoint by user

Graph the sum of datadog.apis.usage.per_org, datadog.apis.usage.per_user, and datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key by user_uuid with rate_limit_status:blocked and limit_name:example

Example: default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_org{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {user_uuid}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_user{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {user_uuid}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {user_uuid})

Blocked endpoint by app key ID

Graph the sum of datadog.apis.usage.per_org, datadog.apis.usage.per_user, and datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key by app_key_id with rate_limit_status:blocked and limit_name:example

Example: default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_org{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {app_key_id}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_user{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {app_key_id}) + default_zero(sum:datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key{rate_limit_status:blocked,limit_name:example} by {app_key_id})

Ratio of Rate Limits Used by Rate Limit Name

Graph the sum of datadog.apis.usage.per_org_ratio, datadog.apis.usage.per_user_ratio, and datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key_ratio by limit_name

Example: default_zero(max:datadog.apis.usage.per_org_ratio{*} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(max:datadog.apis.usage.per_user_ratio{*} by {limit_name}) + default_zero(max:datadog.apis.usage.per_api_key_ratio{*} by {limit_name})

Increase your rate limit

You can request increased rate limits by creating a Support ticket with the below details under Help > New Support Ticket. Upon receiving a rate limit increase, our Support Engineering team reviews the request on a case-by-case basis and, if needed, works with internal engineering resources to confirm the viability of the rate limit increase request.

Title:
    Request to increase rate limit on endpoint: X

Details:
    We would like to request a rate limit increase for API endpoint: X
    Example use cases/queries:
        Example API call as cURL or as URL with example payload

    Motivation for increasing rate limit:
        Example - Our organization uses this endpoint to right size a container before we deploy. This deployment takes place every X hours or up to Y times per day.

    Desired target rate limit:
        Tip - Having a specific limit increase or percentage increase in mind helps Support Engineering expedite the request to internal Engineering teams for review.

After Datadog Support reviews and approves the use case, they can apply the rate limit increase behind the scenes. Note that there is a maximum to how much a rate limit can be increased due to the SaaS nature of Datadog. Datadog Support reserves the right to reject rate limit increases based on use cases and Engineering recommendations.

Audit logs

API limit and usage metrics provide insight into usage patterns and blocked requests. If you need additional details, Audit Trail offers more granular visibility into API activity.

With Audit Trail, you can view data such as:

• IP address & geolocation – Identify where API requests originated.
• Actor type – Distinguish between service accounts and user accounts.
• API vs. app key authentication – See whether requests were made through an API key or directly by a user.
• Correlated events – View other events occurring at the same time, such as configuration changes or security-related actions.

Audit Trail can help teams troubleshoot rate limit issues by providing more context on API consumption and blocked requests. It also enables tracking of API usage across an organization for security and compliance purposes.

For more detailed visibility into API activity, consider using Audit Trail.