Rate Limit Exceeded on Twitter (X): What It Means and Fixes

“Rate limit exceeded” on Twitter (X) means your account, the app you’re using or your connection has sent more requests or actions than X allows in a set period, so X is temporarily refusing more. It isn’t a ban. The fix is usually to stop, wait 15 minutes to a few hours, and remove whatever is making extra requests: constant refreshing, extra tabs, third-party apps or automation.

X uses limits to keep the service reliable, and it applies them to almost everything: posting, replying, following, messaging and loading content. This guide explains which limits sit behind the error, why you hit them, how long the block lasts, how to fix it step by step, and how to tell a simple rate limit apart from a locked account.

What “rate limit exceeded” actually means

A rate limit is a cap on how many times something can happen in a time window. When you cross it, X stops processing new requests from you until the window resets. You’ll usually see one of these:

• In the app or on x.com: a “Rate limit exceeded” message, posts that won’t load, or a timeline stuck on an error such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading.”
• When posting, following or messaging: an error telling you you’ve hit a specific limit. X’s help center says that when you reach a limit, it shows an error message telling you which one.
• For developers: X’s API documentation says an API request over the limit gets an HTTP 429 response with error code 88 and the message “Rate limit exceeded.”

The wording is the same in all three cases, but the cause differs. Working out which one you’re in is the first step.

The limits behind the error

According to X’s help center page “About X limits”, these are the current technical limits for accounts:

Action	Published limit	Notes
Original posts	50 per day for unverified accounts	Split into semi-hourly limits
Replies	200 per day for unverified accounts	Split into semi-hourly limits
All updates	2,400 per day	Also split into semi-hourly limits
Direct messages	500 per day
Follows	400 per day	Plus rules against aggressive following
Follows after 5,000	Account-specific	Based on ratios X doesn’t publish
Account email changes	4 per hour
API requests from third-party apps	Hourly API limit	Shared across all apps you’ve connected

Three rules from the same page explain most rate limit errors:

1. Every device counts. Limits include actions from the web, mobile apps and the API. Your phone, your laptop and any scheduling tool all draw from the same pool.
2. Third-party apps share one API allowance. X says API requests from all third-party apps are tracked against an hourly limit, so using several apps with one account hits it sooner.
3. Limits can shrink. X may temporarily reduce limits during periods of heavy site usage, and says it will post an update on its status site when that happens.

X doesn’t publish limits for likes, reposts or simply loading timelines. For the full breakdown and where X’s own pages contradict each other, see our guide to X limits explained.

What about the 2023 reading limits?

Many people first saw “Rate limit exceeded” on July 1, 2023. That day Elon Musk announced temporary limits on how many posts accounts could read per day, citing extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation. As widely reported at the time, the first figures were 6,000 posts a day for verified accounts, 600 for unverified accounts and 300 for new unverified accounts. Within hours they were raised twice, ending at 10,000, 1,000 and 500.

Are they still in effect? X hasn’t said. It described the limits as temporary but never announced an end date, and X’s help center doesn’t list any reading limit today. In practice, most people browsing normally don’t hit a wall, but very heavy scrolling, refreshing or anything that looks like scraping can still trigger the error. Treat any specific reading figure you see quoted for 2026 with suspicion unless it comes from X.

Why you’re seeing it

X doesn’t publish exactly what trips each limit, but these are the usual causes:

• Refreshing over and over. Each reload, search and profile visit is a request. Pulling to refresh every few seconds during a live event adds up fast.
• Lots of tabs or devices at once. Five open x.com tabs plus the phone app all count against the same account.
• Third-party apps. Schedulers, analytics dashboards, unfollow tools and clients that use your account in the background share your hourly API allowance, as X’s help center explains.
• Browser extensions. Extensions that read or change X pages, such as bookmark exporters or “who unfollowed me” tools, can make requests in the background.
• Automation. Bots that auto-like, auto-follow or auto-reply hit limits quickly, and X’s rules prohibit automated, spammy behavior.
• Bursts of activity. Replying to dozens of people in a few minutes or following many accounts in a row can hit the semi-hourly limits even if you’re under the daily total.
• New accounts. The 2023 limits were lowest for new unverified accounts, and new accounts generally face more checks, so a fresh account can hit walls sooner.
• A VPN or shared connection. X doesn’t publish how it treats IP addresses, but sharing an address with many other users, such as a VPN, office or public Wi-Fi network, may lead to extra checks or errors. Switching networks is a quick test.
• Trouble on X’s side. During heavy traffic or an outage, X may lower limits or show errors to everyone. If lots of people report the same message at once, it’s probably not you.

How long does rate limit exceeded last?

X doesn’t publish a single duration, because each limit has its own time window. What X does say:

• Time-based limits, such as direct messages, posts, email changes and API requests, can be tried again once the time period has elapsed, according to X’s help center.
• For the daily post limit, X’s help center suggests trying again in a few hours, because the daily allowance is split into semi-hourly chunks.
• In X’s API, most rate limit windows are 15 minutes, some are 24 hours, and the response headers say exactly when the limit resets.

For a reading or loading limit in the app, a wait of 15 to 30 minutes is a sensible first step. If the error is still there after a day of light use, look at the troubleshooting below.

How to fix rate limit exceeded on X: step by step

1. Stop refreshing. Close the app or tab completely. Every retry is another request and can extend the block.
2. Wait. Give it 15 to 30 minutes for a loading error, or a few hours if you hit a post, reply or follow limit.
3. Check whether it’s just you. Ask a friend, try another account, or check X’s status site. If X is having problems, waiting is the only fix.
4. Close extra tabs and devices. Use one device for a while, so you know exactly where requests come from.
5. Remove third-party apps you don’t need. Go to Settings and privacy, open the Apps and sessions section, review the connected apps and revoke anything you don’t use or don’t recognize.
6. Disable X-related browser extensions. Turn them off, reload x.com once and see if the error stops.
7. Turn off your VPN or switch networks. Try mobile data instead of Wi-Fi, or the other way round.
8. Update the app and clear its cache. An outdated app can misbehave. Our guide on why X isn’t working has the cache and reinstall steps for each platform.
9. Log out of sessions you don’t recognize. In Apps and sessions, X’s help center shows how to log out of other sessions, or all of them at once. An unknown session using your account could be the source of the requests.
10. Don’t open new accounts to get around it. Creating extra accounts to evade limits looks like platform manipulation and can get every account involved restricted.

When it’s not a rate limit: locked and limited accounts

A rate limit lifts by itself. If the problem doesn’t, X may have restricted your account instead. Signs to look for:

• A message saying “Your account has been locked” or “Please verify your account.” X’s help center says you’ll need to verify ownership by phone, email or reCAPTCHA before the lock lifts.
• You can read timelines but can’t post, repost or like for days, which is what X calls a limited or read-only state.
• Visitors see a notice that your account has shown unusual activity.
• Your profile says “Account suspended.”

Our guides to X read-only mode and what to do when your X account is suspended cover each case. A burst of rate limit errors followed by a lock usually means X read your activity as automated, so stop any tools before you verify.

For developers: handling 429 errors

If you’re building on the X API, “Rate limit exceeded” is a normal part of life. X’s API documentation says each response includes headers showing your limit, how many requests you have left, and when the window resets. To stay out of trouble:

• Read the reset header and wait until that time instead of retrying immediately.
• Back off exponentially when you get a 429: wait, then wait longer on each repeat.
• Cache results you’ve already fetched rather than requesting them again.
• Spread requests out instead of sending them in bursts at the start of each window.

How to avoid hitting X’s rate limits

• Pace your activity. Spread replies and follows across the day instead of doing them all in one sitting.
• Refresh less. Let the timeline load new posts on its own, especially during live events.
• Keep one or two tools at most. Each connected app draws from the same hourly allowance.
• Audit connected apps every few months. Revoke the ones you no longer use.
• Skip automation that acts for you. Auto-follow, auto-like and auto-DM tools are the fastest route to limits and locks.
• Grow at a human pace. Even outside the published limits, X’s rules prohibit aggressive following and other spammy behavior. Our shadowban test explains how X treats it.

Key takeaways

• “Rate limit exceeded” means you’ve sent more requests or actions than X allows in a set window; it isn’t a ban.
• X’s published limits include 500 DMs and 400 follows per day, plus posting limits split into semi-hourly chunks.
• Third-party apps share one hourly API allowance, so connected apps are a common hidden cause.
• The July 2023 reading limits were called temporary; X never announced an end and doesn’t list reading limits today.
• Fix it by stopping, waiting, closing extra tabs and removing apps, extensions or VPNs that add requests.
• If it doesn’t clear and you see a verification prompt, it’s a locked account, not a rate limit.