Tumblr API call or request limits

afterglowlee picture afterglowlee · Oct 25, 2013 · Viewed 7k times · Source

Anybody know if there is any API call limits per second, hour or day for Tumblr API? It seems to me the limits do exist when I make a lot of api calls in a short period via OAuth. However, I couldn't find any document on Tumblr API website or on Google. Many thanks.

Answer

kasur picture kasur · Jan 10, 2015

I have been using Tumblr API for about 2 years now, and I must admit that "Rate Limit Exceeded" issue has no deterministic and, more important, officially confirmed answer.

In Tumblr's API Agreement you may find some reference to limitations under section "Respect for Limitations" which says

In addition, you will comply with any limitations imposed by Tumblr on the frequency of access, calls and use of the Tumblr API and Tumblr Firehose

We ask that you respect these limitations, as well as any rate limits that we may place on actions, which are designed to protect our systems

Notes:

  • There is a special Tumblr tagged blog "rate-limit-exceeded" dedicated to this. However, it does not say much about number of request per period of time that a reported person used when facing this problem.
  • For example here you can find avg 1000 requests per minute to be the limit.
  • As for my application the request rate is approximately 1 request per second. The application runs for about a year already in 24/7 manner. There were several times though this issue occurred to me even with this relatively low rate. However, I consider the failure rate to be insignificant.