Bubble · Rate Limits

Bubble Rate Limits

Bubble enforces rate limits on the Data API and Workflow API at the per-app level, with the request-per-minute ceiling determined by the app's subscription plan. In addition to request rate, Bubble meters server-side activity in Workload Units (WU): every API call, database query, scheduled workflow, and plugin invocation consumes a number of WU drawn from the monthly plan allotment. Hard limits also apply to request size, response size, response list length, and workflow timeout. Rate-limited requests return HTTP 429; legacy plans return 429 (and occasionally 503 on capacity-locked legacy infrastructure).

Bubble Rate Limits is the machine-readable rate-limit profile for Bubble on the APIs.io network, conforming to the API Commons Rate Limits specification.

It captures 12 rate-limit definitions, measuring requests_per_minute, bytes, items, seconds, and levels.

The profile also includes 7 backoff/retry policies defined and response codes documented for throttled, quotaExceeded, and throttledLegacy.

Tagged areas include Rate Limiting, No-Code, Application Platform, and Workload Units.

12 Limits Throttle: 429 Quota: 429
Rate LimitingNo-CodeApplication PlatformWorkload Units

Limits

Data + Workflow API requests (Starter plan) account
requests_per_minute · minute
15000
Combined ceiling across the Data API and Workflow API per app.
Data + Workflow API requests (Growth plan) account
requests_per_minute · minute
25000
Combined ceiling across the Data API and Workflow API per app.
Data + Workflow API requests (Team plan) account
requests_per_minute · minute
35000
Combined ceiling across the Data API and Workflow API per app.
Data + Workflow API requests (Legacy plans) account
requests_per_minute · minute
1000
Apps on retired legacy plans are throttled at 1,000 req/min and return HTTP 429.
API response payload size account
bytes
52428800
Maximum 50 MB per API response body.
API request header size account
bytes
8000
Maximum 8,000 characters across all request headers.
API key size account
bytes
20000
Maximum 20,000 characters per API token / key.
Search response list length account
items
50
Workflow API returns up to 50 list items per response. Data API search returns paginated; sorted searches max 50,000 items per request (10,000,000 on Enterprise).
Workflow execution timeout account
seconds · second
300
Server-side workflows must complete within 5 minutes.
Bulk create payload account
items
1000
Up to 1,000 records per Data API /bulk POST request.
API Connector recursion depth account
levels
3
Direct recursion limited to 3 levels; indirect recursion limited to 10 levels.
Workload Units (Per plan) account
wu_per_month
see plan allocation; varies by tier; per-activity costs apply
Workload meter; not a per-second rate. Each API call, database query, scheduled workflow, and plugin invocation deducts WU from the plan's monthly allotment. Sample per-activity costs: inbound API call 0.01 WU, outbound API call 0.1 WU, server-side workflow action 0.6 WU, database search 0.3 WU + 0.015 WU/thing, thing creation/modification 0.5 WU, thing deletion 0.1 WU, plugin server action 0.2 WU + 0.0005 WU/ms.

Policies

Per-app scoping
Rate limits and WU allotments are bound to the Bubble app, not the API token. Multiple tokens on the same app share the same ceiling.
Live vs version-test
The development environment (`/version-test`) draws from the same WU pool as live; do not load-test in version-test on a paid plan.
HTTP 429 backoff
When throttled, Bubble returns HTTP 429. Clients should back off exponentially. Retry-After header may indicate wait time.
Plan upgrade for higher limits
Higher request-per-minute and WU ceilings require plan upgrade or Enterprise contract. Per-tier limits are published on the Pricing page; Enterprise limits are negotiated.
Workload optimization
Reduce WU consumption via indexed searches, smaller field projections, fewer scheduled workflow chains, and client-side rendering where possible. Bubble publishes an `Optimizing workload` guide.
Hard system caps
Some limits cannot be raised by plan upgrade — workflow timeout (300s), request header size (8 KB), API key size (20 KB), API Connector recursion depth, and per-thing list length (10,000).
Privacy rule enforcement
User tokens enforce privacy rules; admin tokens bypass them. Throttling applies regardless of token type.

Sources