Linkedin API throttle limit

Question

Recently I was developing an application using Linkedin people-search API. Documentation says that a developer registration has 1 lac API calls per day, but when I have registered this API, and ran a python script, after some 300 calls it says throttle limit exceeds. Did anyone face such kind of issue using Linkedin API, comments are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It's been a while but the stats suggest people still look at this and I'm experimenting with the LinkedIn API and can provide some more detail.

The typical throttles are stated as both a max (e.g. 100K) and a per-user-token number (e.g. 500). Those numbers together mean you can get up to a maximum of 100,000 calls per day to the API but even as a developer a single user token means a maximum of 500 per day.

I ran into this, and after setting up a barebones app and getting some users I can confirm a daily throttle of several thousands of API calls. [Deleted discussion of what was probably, upon further consideration, an accidental back door in the LinkedIn API.]

Answer 2

As per the Throttle Limits published by LinkedIn:

LinkedIn API keys are throttled by default. The throttles are designed to ensure maximum performance for all developers and to protect the user experience of all users on LinkedIn.

There are three types of throttles applied to all API keys:

• Application throttles: These throttles limit the number of each API call your application can make using its API key.
• User throttles: These throttles limit the number of calls for any individual user of your application. User-level throttles serve several purposes, but in general are implemented where there is a significant potential impact to the user experience for LinkedIn users.
• Developer throttles: For people listed as developers on their API keys, they will see user throttles that are approximately four times higher than the user throttles for most calls. This gives you extra capacity to build and test your application. Be aware that the developer throttles give you higher throttle limits as a developer of your application. But your users will experience the User throttle limits, which are lower. Take care to make sure that your application functions correctly with the User throttle limits, not just for the throttle limits for your usage as a developer.

Note: To view current API usage of your application and to ensure you haven't hit any throttle limits, visit https://www.linkedin.com/developer/apps and click on "Usage & Limits".