> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.visor.vin/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Usage Tiers

> Understand public API rate limits, tier movement, and account-specific limits.

Usage Tiers are trust-based rate-limit packages for the Visor Public API. They are separate from pricing: request prices come from the usage class shown in `X-Usage-Class` and the pricing version shown in `X-Pricing-Version`.

## Account-level limits

Rate limits are enforced per API account, not per API key. All keys on the same account share the same limits.

| Usage Tier | Requests / 10 seconds | Requests / 60 seconds |
| ---------- | --------------------: | --------------------: |
| Tier 1     |                    20 |                    60 |
| Tier 2     |                   100 |                   100 |
| Tier 3     |                   200 |                   600 |
| Tier 4     |                   500 |                  3000 |

All API accounts start in Tier 1. Your dashboard is the source of truth for your current effective limits, including any account-specific override.

## Tier movement

Higher tiers are designed to limit abuse and protect platform capacity while trusted accounts ramp up. Automatic promotion uses verified paid API credits, days since the first successful paid credit, and current good standing. Promotional or manually granted beta credits do not count toward automatic promotion.

| Target Tier | Verified paid API credits | Days since first successful paid credit | Review                          |
| ----------- | ------------------------: | --------------------------------------: | ------------------------------- |
| Tier 2      |                     `$25` |                                       7 | Automatic when in good standing |
| Tier 3      |                    `$150` |                                      14 | Automatic when in good standing |
| Tier 4      |                    `$500` |                                      30 | Manual review required          |

Good standing means the API account is active, billing state is active or low balance, available balance is positive, and there has been no recent chargeback reversal. Tier movement is upward by default; lower limits are an operational action for abuse, payment risk, customer request, or support intervention.

## Account-specific overrides

Some accounts may have custom effective limits that differ from the public tier table. Overrides can raise limits for trusted partners or lower limits for abuse mitigation. If your dashboard differs from this guide, use the dashboard value.

## Rate-limit responses

When you exceed your current effective limit, the API returns HTTP `429`:

```json theme={null}
{
  "error": {
    "type": "rate_limit_error",
    "code": "rate_limit_exceeded",
    "message": "Rate limit exceeded."
  },
  "_tag": "PublicApiRateLimitError"
}
```

Rate-limited responses include `Retry-After` when available. Wait at least that many seconds before retrying.

## Integration guidance

Use client-side backoff for `429` responses and avoid sending parallel bursts beyond your tier. For scheduled jobs, spread requests across the minute instead of sending them all at once.