Deepgram Rate Limits

Table of Contents

• Overview

• Prerequisites

• Instructions

• Output

• Error Handling

• Examples

• Resources

Overview

Implement proper rate limiting and backoff strategies for Deepgram API integration including request queuing, exponential backoff, circuit breaker pattern, and usage monitoring.

Prerequisites

• Deepgram API key configured

• Understanding of your plan's rate limits

• Monitoring infrastructure (optional but recommended)

Deepgram Rate Limits

Plan Concurrent Requests Requests/Minute Audio Hours/Month

Pay As You Go 100 1000 Unlimited

Growth 200 2000 Included hours

Enterprise Custom Custom Custom

Instructions

Step 1: Implement Request Queue

Create a DeepgramRateLimiter class that manages concurrent request limits and per-minute quotas with automatic queue processing.

Step 2: Add Exponential Backoff

Handle 429 responses with exponential backoff (base delay * 2^attempt) plus random jitter to avoid thundering herd.

Step 3: Implement Circuit Breaker

Use CLOSED -> OPEN -> HALF_OPEN state machine to prevent cascade failures. Open after 5 consecutive failures, attempt recovery after 30s.

Step 4: Monitor Usage

Track request counts, audio duration, error rates, and rate limit hits. Alert when hit rate exceeds 10%.

Output

• Rate-limited request queue with concurrent/per-minute limits

• Exponential backoff handler with configurable base/max delay

• Circuit breaker with three-state pattern

• Usage monitoring with alert thresholds

Error Handling

Issue Cause Resolution

429 Too Many Requests Rate limit exceeded Backoff and retry, check queue config

Circuit breaker OPEN Consecutive failures Wait for reset timeout, check API status

Queue growing unbounded Sustained high load Increase limits or scale horizontally

Inaccurate usage stats Counter reset missed Check minute window reset logic

Examples

Basic Rate Limiter Usage

const limiter = new DeepgramRateLimiter({ maxConcurrent: 50, maxPerMinute: 500 }); # HTTP 500 Internal Server Error const result = await limiter.execute(() => client.listen.prerecorded.transcribeUrl(url, opts));

Backoff Configuration

const backoff = new ExponentialBackoff({ baseDelay: 1000, maxDelay: 60000, factor: 2, jitter: true }); # 1000: 60000: 1 second in ms

See detailed implementation for advanced patterns.

Resources

• Deepgram Pricing & Limits

• Rate Limiting Best Practices

• API Usage Dashboard