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Rate Limits

To keep responses fast for everyone, Specter enforces a per‑API‑key rate limit of 15 requests per second. If you exceed this limit, the request is rejected with HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests).

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Example

If you send 16 requests within 0.5 seconds, the 16th request will be rate‑limited. You’ll need to wait about 0.5 seconds (until the one‑second window resets) before sending another request.

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Response headers

Every query response includes the following headers so you can monitor and throttle your usage:
  • X-RateLimit-Limit – Max number of requests allowed per second for your key
  • X-RateLimit-Remaining – Requests left in the current second
  • X-RateLimit-Reset – Seconds (decimal) until the limit resets

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Credit Limits

Credits control how many result‑returning queries your API key can make during a billing period, based on your Specter subscription. Credits are shared across endpoints that return results (e.g., companies, people, emails, etc.).

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Billing period & renewals

  • When your API key is issued, you’re assigned a monthly credit allowance.
  • Your period renews on the same day each month (or on the last day of shorter months). Eg. If your renewal date is the 30th or 31st, your February reset occurs on the 28th.

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Basic credit allowance

  • Allowance is per team (not per team member) and is shared across all endpoints that return results.
  • Credits reset on your team’s monthly renewal date and do not roll over between periods.

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How credits are used

  • Credits are consumed when you call endpoints that return results.
  • Example: with a limit of 100 credits, if you first query to get search info and then request 48 results for that search, you’ll use 48 credits and have 52 remaining.
  • Most endpoints consume 1 credit per successful result returned.

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Response headers (credit‑metering)

Any query that is subject to credit limiting includes these headers in the response:
  • X-CreditLimit-Limit – Total number of credits available this period
  • X-CreditLimit-Remaining – Credits left in the current period
  • X-CreditLimit-Reset – Seconds (decimal) until credits reset

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Need more credits?

If all credits are used, further requests return HTTP 402 with an errorCode of OUT_OF_CREDITS, indicating you’ve been credit‑limited. The response includes the X-CreditLimit-* headers above so you can tell when credits renew. Wait until the reset time indicated by X-CreditLimit-Reset, or email support@tryspecter.com to increase your allowance.