newscatcher-rate-limits.yml

specificationVersion: "0.1"
id: newscatcher-rate-limits
name: Newscatcher Rate Limits
description: >
  Newscatcher enforces rate limits across three dimensions for the News API:
  concurrent calls, total monthly plan calls, and historical data depth in days.
  The Web Search (CatchAll) API uses a credit-based model where each retrieval
  mode has a defined credit cost per operation. Exceeding concurrent call limits
  returns HTTP 429. Monthly quotas reset at the start of each billing cycle with
  no rollover for call counts (Web Search credits do roll over). Current quota
  consumption can be queried via the /subscription endpoint.
url: https://newscatcherapi.com/docs/v3/api-reference/overview/rate-limits
limits:
  # ── News API (v3) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  - id: news-api-concurrent-calls
    name: Concurrent Calls
    description: >
      Maximum number of simultaneous in-flight API requests allowed per
      subscription. Exceeding this limit returns a 429 Too Many Requests error.
      The exact value depends on the subscription plan; the example quota in the
      docs shows 10 concurrent calls for a mid-tier plan.
    scope: news-api
    type: concurrency
    enforcement: HTTP 429 on breach
    reset: per_request
    example_value: 10
    unit: simultaneous_requests
    note: Check /subscription endpoint for your plan-specific value.

  - id: news-api-monthly-calls
    name: Monthly Plan Calls
    description: >
      Total API calls permitted per billing cycle. Once exhausted the API
      returns an error until the quota resets. The example quota response in the
      documentation shows 250,000 monthly calls for a mid-tier subscription.
    scope: news-api
    type: quota
    period: monthly
    reset: billing_cycle_start
    example_value: 250000
    unit: api_calls
    note: Check /subscription endpoint for your remaining_calls and plan_calls values.

  - id: news-api-historical-depth
    name: Historical Data Depth
    description: >
      The maximum number of days into the past that articles can be retrieved,
      determined by subscription plan. The example quota shows 400 days.
      NLP enrichment features apply only to articles indexed from July 2023.
    scope: news-api
    type: data_window
    example_value: 400
    unit: days
    note: Earlier articles (pre-July 2023) have limited NLP processing.

  - id: news-api-articles-per-request
    name: Articles Per Request (Page Size)
    description: >
      Maximum number of articles returned in a single API response. Default is
      100 and the hard ceiling is 1,000 per page. A hard cap of 10,000 articles
      applies per query; if total_hits equals 10,000, actual matching articles
      likely exceed that value.
    scope: news-api
    type: page_size
    default_value: 100
    max_value: 1000
    hard_cap_per_query: 10000
    unit: articles

  # ── Web Search (CatchAll) API ─────────────────────────────────────────────
  - id: catchall-credits-base-mode
    name: Base Mode Credit Cost
    description: >
      Each valid record (article/result) retrieved in Base mode costs 10 credits
      from the monthly credit allocation.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    type: credit_cost
    mode: Base
    cost_per_unit: 10
    unit: credits_per_valid_record

  - id: catchall-credits-lite-mode
    name: Lite Mode Credit Cost
    description: >
      Each search operation performed in Lite mode costs 100 credits from the
      monthly credit allocation regardless of results returned.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    type: credit_cost
    mode: Lite
    cost_per_unit: 100
    unit: credits_per_search

  - id: catchall-concurrency-individual
    name: Concurrency - Individual Plan
    description: Maximum concurrent requests for the free Individual plan.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    plan: individual
    type: concurrency
    max_value: 1
    unit: simultaneous_requests

  - id: catchall-concurrency-starter
    name: Concurrency - Starter Plan
    description: Maximum concurrent requests for the $50/month Starter plan.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    plan: starter
    type: concurrency
    max_value: 2
    unit: simultaneous_requests

  - id: catchall-concurrency-scale
    name: Concurrency - Scale Plan
    description: Maximum concurrent requests for the $500/month Scale plan.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    plan: scale
    type: concurrency
    max_value: 4
    unit: simultaneous_requests

  - id: catchall-monthly-credits-starter
    name: Monthly Credits - Starter Plan
    description: Monthly credit allocation for the Starter plan. Unused credits roll over.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    plan: starter
    type: quota
    period: monthly
    max_value: 6000
    rollover: true
    unit: credits

  - id: catchall-monthly-credits-scale
    name: Monthly Credits - Scale Plan
    description: Monthly credit allocation for the Scale plan. Unused credits roll over.
    scope: catchall-web-search-api
    plan: scale
    type: quota
    period: monthly
    max_value: 60000
    rollover: true
    unit: credits

error_codes:
  - code: 429
    description: Too Many Requests — concurrent call limit exceeded. Wait briefly before retrying.
    retry_behavior: Exponential backoff; SDKs retry up to 2 times by default (configurable via WithMaxAttempts).