Quotas, limits and errors

Most Pixalate APIs draw on a usage quota. Your plan or contract sets the size of each quota, so this page explains how usage is counted rather than listing numbers. To see your own numbers, call the free metadata endpoint for the API (see Check your quota).

How quota works

One pool per product

Your usage is counted in separate pools:

• one for each Enrichment API supply type: mobile apps, CTV apps and domains
• one for the Analytics Reports API
• one for the Fraud API

The pools are independent. Using one never draws down another, so an empty mobile apps pool doesn’t affect your domains lookups. When a pool runs out, every request that draws on it is blocked, whatever widgets you ask for, until the pool refreshes or your plan changes.

Enrichment API: input items and output items

Enrichment API usage is counted the same way as in the Media Ratings Terminal:

• Each input item, an app or domain you submit in a single lookup or a batch, uses one quota unit when it’s submitted.
• Each output item, a result returned or made available for that input item, uses one more unit. A result is one app or domain for one combination of store, region and device.

So one input item can use several units: one for the item itself, plus one for each result returned. Usage is shared across everyone on your account.

Region and device control how many results come back. A lookup with no filters returns a result for every region and device combination. Add region=GLOBAL&device=GLOBAL to get one result per store, which covers most needs.

For example, to look up one app with the fewest results:

curl "https://api.pixalate.com/api/v2/mrt/apps/com.example.mobileapp?region=GLOBAL&device=GLOBAL" \
  -H "x-api-key: $PIXALATE_API_KEY"

The same filters work on the mobile apps batch endpoint, which is where they save the most: a batch multiplies records by region and device for every app you submit. See the Enrichment API guide.

Fraud API

The Fraud API’s quota status reports usage as a count of requests in the current quota period. See Check your quota in the Fraud API guide.

Other APIs

For the SCO Validation & Verification API, the OpenEPG preview and Pixalate’s MCP connectors, ask your Pixalate account manager about the limits on your plan. The MCP connectors’ limits are described in Access and limits.

Check your quota

Each of these calls returns your current quota status.

curl "https://api.pixalate.com/api/v2/mrt/apps?pretty=true" \
  -H "x-api-key: $PIXALATE_API_KEY"

The Enrichment API and Analytics Reports API return a quota object alongside the date the data was last updated:

{
  "database": {
    "lastUpdated": "2022-04-30"
  },
  "quota": {
    "available": 480,
    "used": 520,
    "expiry": "2022-05-01T12:45:23.234Z",
    "limit": 1000,
    "interval": 1000,
    "timeUnit": "month"
  }
}

The values above are illustrations from the API reference, not real allowances.

Each Enrichment API supply type reports its own pool, so check the endpoint for the supply type you’re about to use. Check available before you start a large batch.

Rate limits

The OpenEPG preview declares a rate limit: when you exceed it, you get 429 with a Retry-After header that says when to try again. For rate limits on the other APIs, contact support@pixalate.com.

HTTP status codes

These are the status codes each API’s specification declares.

What each status means and what to do

Batch endpoints (Enrichment API batch lookups, Analytics exports with isAsync) report some results through a URL you poll afterwards, with their own status codes. See the Enrichment API and Analytics Reports API guides.

Related