Rate limits
Two ceilings, printed on every response. Going over is never a bill.
The limits
Every plan has a per-minute ceiling and a longer allowance. The per-minute limit stops a runaway loop; the allowance covers normal use.
Free key: 60 a minute, 50 a day, resetting at 00:00 UTC.
Archive: 120 a minute, 250,000 a month.
Live: 180 a minute, 600,000 a month.
Knowing where you stand
Every response carries your position, so you never have to guess or count.
x-ratelimit-limit: 120 x-ratelimit-remaining: 118 x-ratelimit-reset: 41
reset is seconds until the window rolls.
Going over
You get a 429 with retry-after in seconds. There is no overage
charge, no automatic upgrade and no surprise invoice. The worst case is that you wait.
HTTP 429 Too Many Requests retry-after: 41
Back off for the number of seconds given rather than retrying immediately: a tight retry loop just burns the next window too.
Fair use
Holding several free accounts to multiply the allowance is a breach of the acceptable use policy. If you need more than a plan allows, ask: an arrangement is nearly always cheaper than the effort of evading the limit.