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DeepSeek API error

DeepSeek API 429 - Rate Limit Reached: what it means and how to fix it

Error message
429 - Rate Limit Reached

Retry? Not statedLast verified 2 documented fixes2 sources

What it means

You are sending requests too quickly, or have exceeded a concurrency or QPS limit. Concurrency limits are per account and per model, regardless of which API key is used, and a request counts as one concurrent connection until the model response is complete.

Causes

  • Sending requests too quickly
  • Exceeding the account-level concurrency limit for a model (for example 2500 for deepseek-flash, 500 for deepseek-v4-pro)
  • Exceeding a QPS limit
  • For accounts with increased concurrency quotas, a single user_id exceeding its per-user_id concurrency limit

How to fix it

  1. Fix 1.

    Pace your requests reasonably; see Rate Limit & Isolation for model rate limits.

  2. Fix 2.

    If you need higher concurrency, submit a capacity expansion request; DeepSeek matches concurrency to your business needs at no additional cost.

More DeepSeek API errors

HTTP 429 at other providers

Compare 429 across providers

FAQ

What does the DeepSeek API error "429 - Rate Limit Reached" mean?

You are sending requests too quickly, or have exceeded a concurrency or QPS limit. Concurrency limits are per account and per model, regardless of which API key is used, and a request counts as one concurrent connection until the model response is complete.

How do I fix DeepSeek API "429 - Rate Limit Reached"?

There are 2 documented fixes. Start with the first: Pace your requests reasonably; see Rate Limit & Isolation for model rate limits.

Should I retry DeepSeek API "429 - Rate Limit Reached"?

Not stated. The official docs do not say whether this error is retryable.

Which other AI APIs return HTTP 429?

Per their official error docs: Amazon Bedrock (429 ThrottlingException; 429 ModelNotReadyException), Anthropic API (429 rate_limit_error; 429 rate_limit_error (enforced_spend_limit_reached)), Azure OpenAI (429 Too Many Requests (Rate limit is exceeded); 429 Too Many Requests (System is experiencing high demand); 429 Too Many Requests (temporary rate limit adjustment); 429 Too Many Requests (token budget exceeded by request parameters)), Cohere API (429 Too Many Requests), Gemini API (429 rate_limit_exceeded; 429 quota_exceeded; 429 too_many_requests; 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED), Groq API (429 Too Many Requests), Mistral API (429 Too many requests), OpenAI API (429 credit_balance_exhausted; 429 Rate limit reached for requests; 429 rate_limit_error slow_down; 429 organization_spend_limit_exceeded; 429 project_spend_limit_exceeded; 429 organization_usage_limit_exceeded), OpenRouter (429 rate_limit_exceeded), Vertex AI (429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED; 429 Resource exhausted, please try again later; 429 Too many requests. Exceeded the Provisioned Throughput), xAI API (429 Too Many Requests).

Sources

Last verified against 2 sources: DeepSeek API's official docs and official SDK repositories.

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