How to Increase Your API Rate Limits on WhoisFreaks

If your integration returns 429 Too Many Requests while you still have API credits left, you have hit your API rate limit, not your quota. You can raise your requests per minute from the billing dashboard with a rate-limit add-on, without upgrading your plan. This guide covers the flow, the pricing formula, and how to cancel.

Not sure which limit you hit? Read how API rate limiting works first.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need:

• An active paid API subscription. The free 500 credits cannot carry an add-on. See how to buy API credits or start a subscription.
• A card on file, billed through Stripe or Paddle. The add-on is added to your existing subscription, so you are never asked to re-enter card details.

API Rate Limits vs API Credits

A throttled request returns 429 and does not consume a credit. If you would rather absorb 429s in code than pay for headroom, see handling API rate limits and errors.

Step 1: Open Your API Subscription

Sign in to the WhoisFreaks dashboard, go to Billing > Your Subscriptions, and select the API Subscriptions tab.

Beside your plan card is a Rate limits card, labelled API plan limits & add-ons. Everything below happens there.

Step 2: Find Which Rate Limit to Increase

Rate limits are enforced per endpoint category, not globally, so 429s on historical queries are unrelated to your live lookup volume. Click Show rate limit Map in the dialog to see this in the dashboard:

Read x-ratelimit-allowed-requests off a real response to confirm the category ceiling you are hitting:

curl -s -D - -o /dev/null "https://api.whoisfreaks.com/v2.0/whois/live?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY&domainName=whoisfreaks.com"

Step 3: Enter Your New Requests Per Minute

Click Increase rate limits on the card. Three fields open, each pre-filled with your plan's limit.

Enter the total requests per minute you want, not the amount to add. On the 5,000-credit plan (20 live rpm), type 100 to get 100, and the dashboard derives the increment of 80.

• You can only increase. A lower value snaps back with "You cannot decrease limits, only increase them."
• At least one category must go up, or you get "At least one value must be increased."
• Whole numbers only.

Step 4: Get the Rate Limit Add-On Price

Click Get price. Nothing is charged yet. Confirm stays disabled until you price the change, so you always see the number first.

You get an Estimated total plus one of three invoice messages:

The Estimated total is the recurring amount added to every invoice, monthly or yearly to match your plan. It is not prorated, and it already reflects any coupon on your subscription.

Step 5: Confirm

Click Confirm. The add-on is created on your subscription, the immediate invoice is charged if there is one, and your API key's limits are rewritten and pushed to the API gateway.

New limits apply immediately. No key rotation, no waiting for the next billing cycle. Your next response already reports the new x-ratelimit-allowed-requests.

If the charge fails, the add-on is rolled back, and nothing is applied. Failures surface as a generic "There was an error. Please contact support." toast.

The card then shows Rate limit add-on active with your price and a per-category breakdown:

Live: 20  +80  = 100
DB:   3   +0   = 3
Bulk: 8   +0   = 8

Rate Limit Add-On Pricing Formula

An add-on is priced as a proportion of the plan you are already on, not from a per-request price list.

Step A

Convert limits into capacity units:

Step B

Apply the formula:

add-on price = 0.35 × plan rate × (units added / plan units)

Worked example, 5,000-credit plan at $10/month (Live 20, Bulk 8, Hist/Rev 3), raising Live to 100:

plan units  = (20 × 1) + (8 × 4) + (3 × 6) = 70
units added = 80 live × 1                  = 80

price = 0.35 × $10.00 × (80 / 70)
      = $4.00...  ->  $4.01 per month

Cents always round up, which is why an apparently exact $4.00 bills as $4.01.

Three things follow from the formula:

• DB capacity costs 6x live capacity: Raise only the category you are actually throttled in.
• The same increase costs more on a bigger plan; Live +80 is $4.01/month on the $10 plan and $37.57/month on the $550 plan.
• Yearly plans keep their discount: Live 20 > 100 on the $100/year plan is $40.01 per year, about $3.33 a month.

Get price stays authoritative, because it also applies your coupon. Use the formula to budget.

Update or Cancel Your Rate Limit Add-On

Only one add-on runs per subscription, so raising limits again replaces it rather than stacking.

To update: click Get new price. The fields reset to your plan limits, not your current effective limits, so enter totals measured from the plan baseline. Price it, then click Update limits. You are charged only the difference.

To cancel: click Cancel add-on, then Confirm cancel. The line item comes off your next invoice straight away, but your raised limits stay until your subscription renews, since you have already paid for the period. At renewal your API key reverts to plan limits.

Cancelling the subscription itself clears every add-on and your per-key limits. See how to manage your subscription.

Summary

Add-ons suit a plan whose credits fit but whose pace does not. Short on both? Changing plan raises credits and limits together. For sustained high throughput, contact the team about Enterprise limits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to upgrade my plan to increase my API rate limit?

No. A rate-limit add-on raises your requests per minute on your existing plan. Upgrade instead only if you also need more credits.

How soon does the new API rate limit apply?

Immediately. Your API key is updated and pushed to the API gateway as soon as the charge clears, with no key rotation or redeploy.

How is the rate-limit add-on price calculated?

0.35 × plan rate × (units added / plan units), where 1 live rpm is 1 unit, 1 bulk rpm is 4 units, and 1 DB rpm is 6 units. Cents round up.

Why do DB requests cost more than live requests?

Historical, reverse, subdomain and typo queries scan far more data per call, so one DB request per minute is weighted as six live requests.

Can I have more than one add-on?

No. One add-on runs per subscription. Use Get new price to replace it with a larger one and pay only the difference.

Does an add-on give me more API credits?

No. Credits are your quota for the period; the rate limit is your pace. An add-on lets you spend credits faster, not have more.

What happens if I cancel my add-on mid-cycle?

It comes off your next invoice right away, but your raised limits stay active until the subscription renews, then revert to plan limits.

Why was I charged $5.00 when the estimate was lower?

Immediate add-on invoices have a $5.00 minimum. Your recurring amount is unaffected and stays at the estimated total shown.