I have a question about the Pinterest API and it’s rate limiting. On Pinterest’s Site it states:
Each app (with a unique app ID) is allowed 1000 calls per endpoint per hour for each unique user token. The 60-minute window is a sliding window based on when you make your first request. If you hit your rate limit, you’ll only have to wait a max of 1 hour to get a few more requests.
I’ve never worked with Pinterest API, but based on what that says, I could authenticate a user and then that user is allowed up to 1000 calls to the API per 1 hour – correct?
I’ve gotten many requests from a community of users on Facebook to build a web based application utilizing the API. But in order for me to do so, I have to be able to balance the API calls some. So clarifications as to the rate limits for Pinterest would help.
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Answers
I have develop an app with Pinterest and constantly maintaining that app. As the doc says, for any giving app you should be able to make 1000 calls (per endpoint) (per hour).
Pinterest has many different endpoints so it you should be able to make 1000 calls for each different endpoint per hour, not just 1000 calls.
you can see the many different endpoints here Pinterest API Tool
For each distinct user you can, within 1 hour:
and so on…
Joy Breaker Follow:
At first my app works just as I described above, then out of the blue the app seems to be getting 1000 calls total for all endpoint. And every time I contact their support, some I get an automated response that copy the exact text you reference in your question from the doc. So I’m not sure if Pinterest understand their own doc or it’s poor programming skills or bugs in their api
So brace for impact!
I wanted to provide an update to this question in relation to V3 of the Pinterest API. According to the documentation here (https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/redoc/pinner_app/#section/Client-Authorization/Make-API-requests), the rate limit varies depending on the endpoint you are using and possibly the type of access you have been given.
I have pasted the pertinent documentation below: