Bitly API limits (2026): monthly caps, rate limits and the 429s
Bitly limits its API in two ways. Each plan has a monthly allowance of API
requests, and each endpoint has hourly and per-minute rate limits on top. Going over either one
returns a 429, with a different error name for each.
Monthly API allowance by plan
| Plan | Price (billed annually) | API requests a month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 |
| Core | $10 a month | 5,000 |
| Growth | $29 a month | 25,000 |
| Premium | $199 a month | 50,000 |
| Enterprise | By quote | Not published |
The allowance resets on the first of the month. Once it is used up, requests fail with
429 API_USAGE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED until then.
Hourly and per-minute limits
Bitly's developer documentation sets a rate limit per endpoint, per hour, and a per-minute limit
of one tenth of that. Their own example: if /v4/shorten allows 1,000 calls an hour, it
also allows 100 a minute. Going over returns 429 RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED. Separately, one
IP address can hold at most five connections at the same time.
The documentation does not list the hourly numbers for each plan, and it does not describe
rate-limit headers, so plan for the 429 rather than expecting to read your remaining
budget from each response.
What that means in practice
For a job that runs on a schedule, the monthly allowance is the limit to watch. A nightly job that shortens 50 links makes 1,500 requests a month before any reads or updates. That is more than the free plan's 1,000 and almost a third of Core's 5,000.
How Urlicer limits its API
Urlicer has no monthly request cap. Each API key gets a per-minute budget, and links created through the API count against the same monthly link allowance as links made in the app (what the API covers).
API keys in a demo workspace. One key per job keeps each job on its own per-minute budget.
| Plan | Requests a minute, per key | API keys | New links a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 30 | 1 | 500 |
| Pro, $12 | 120 | 3 | 5,000 |
| Team, $29 | 600 | 10 | 50,000 |
| Business, $99 | 3,000 | 25 | 500,000 |
- Every response carries
X-RateLimit-LimitandX-RateLimit-Remaining, so a client can slow down before it is refused. - Over the per-minute budget, the answer is
429with{"error":"rate_limit"}. Each key's budget is a 60-second window that starts with its first request, so wait up to 60 seconds before retrying. Nothing was created, so the request is safe to repeat. - Over the monthly link allowance, the answer is
403with{"error":"quota","key":"MaxLinks"}. - Bulk creation takes up to 10,000 links in one request, on Pro and up, and that is one request against the per-minute budget.
- A free key creates plain links. Custom aliases, expiry dates, passwords and branded domains need Pro or higher.
The full rules are in the rate limit reference.
When Bitly is the better choice
- The links have to be on
bit.ly. The name is widely recognised, and only Bitly can issue it. - A tool you use only connects to Bitly. Urlicer has no native Zapier, Make or n8n connector, so you would call the HTTP API from that tool yourself.
Bitly's plan figures are from their pricing page as published in September 2026, and the rate-limit rules from their developer documentation, read on 11 September 2026. Check both for current numbers.
The API is on every plan, free included. Create a free account and make a key under Developers.