Rate Limits — API Quotas & Best Practices

Rate Limits

TCG API uses daily request quotas based on your subscription tier.

Limits by Tier

Tier	Daily Limit	Price
Free	100 requests	$0
Hobby	1,000 requests	$9.99/mo
Starter	2,500 requests	$19.99/mo
Pro	10,000 requests	$49.99/mo
Business	50,000 requests	$99.99/mo

Rate Limit Headers

Every authenticated response includes rate limit headers:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 95
X-RateLimit-Reset: 2026-02-20T00:00:00.000Z

The same info is also in the response body:

{
  "data": { ... },
  "rate_limit": {
    "daily_limit": 100,
    "daily_remaining": 95,
    "daily_reset": "2026-02-20T00:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

When You Hit the Limit

If you exceed your daily quota, you’ll receive a 429 Too Many Requests response:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Daily rate limit exceeded. Resets at midnight UTC.",
    "code": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"
  }
}

Reset Schedule

Daily counters reset at midnight UTC (7 PM EST / 4 PM PST).

Bulk Resolve Credits

The bulk resolve endpoints (POST /v1/bulk/resolve/tcgplayer and POST /v1/bulk/resolve/name) consume variable credits based on the number of items and your tier:

Tier	Max Items	Credit per Item	Effective Daily Resolutions
Starter	100	1.0	2,500
Pro	500	0.5	20,000
Business	1,000	0.1	500,000

Credits consumed per request = ceil(items x multiplier). For example, a Pro user resolving 200 TCGPlayer IDs uses ceil(200 x 0.5) = 100 credits from their 10,000 daily quota.

Best Practices

1. Check daily_remaining in responses to proactively slow down before hitting limits
2. Use bulk resolve endpoints (Starter+) for CSV imports — far more efficient than individual lookups
3. Use bulk endpoints (Pro+) to fetch multiple items per request
4. Cache responses — card metadata doesn’t change often, prices update daily
5. Use the game filter on search and name resolve to improve accuracy and speed
6. Paginate efficiently — request only the pages you need

Upgrading

If you consistently hit your rate limit, consider upgrading:

• Hobby ($9.99/mo): 10x free, plus 7-day price history
• Starter ($19.99/mo): 25x free, plus 30-day history, set prices, and bulk resolve (100 items)
• Pro ($49.99/mo): 100x free, plus full history, bulk endpoints, bulk resolve (500 items at 0.5x credits), and commercial use
• Business ($99.99/mo): 500x free, plus bulk resolve (1,000 items at 0.1x credits) — up to 500K resolutions/day

View pricing →