Redpanda · Rate Limits

Redpanda Rate Limits

Redpanda enforces rate limits at two layers. (1) The broker side implements per-client and per-tenant Kafka quotas using the standard Kafka quota mechanism — produce/consume bandwidth quotas, request-rate quotas, and connection-creation rate limits, all configurable via the Admin API and rpk. (2) Redpanda Cloud Serverless additionally enforces tenant-level quotas (max throughput, max partitions, max retention) tied to the subscription tier, returning Kafka THROTTLE responses when exceeded. The Admin API and Schema Registry API have no published per-second limits in the OSS broker; throttling there is a function of the operator's HTTP front-end (e.g., NGINX) configuration.

6 Limits
StreamingKafkaEvent StreamingOpen SourceRate LimitingQuotasThrottling

Limits

Per-Client Producer Bandwidth Quota client-id
bytes-per-second · second
-1
Configurable per client-id via target_quota_byte_rate and Kafka client-quota APIs; limits sustained produce throughput per producer.
Per-Client Consumer Bandwidth Quota client-id
bytes-per-second · second
-1
Configurable per client-id via target_fetch_quota_byte_rate; limits sustained fetch throughput per consumer.
Per-Topic Throughput Quota topic
bytes-per-second · second
-1
Configurable per topic to bound noisy producers/consumers; supports both ingress and egress limits.
Connection Creation Rate broker
new-connections-per-second · second
-1
Configurable via kafka_connection_rate_limit; protects against thundering-herd reconnect storms.
Cloud Serverless Throughput Tier cluster
bytes-per-second · second
-1
Tier-defined ingress + egress cap on Redpanda Cloud Serverless; exceeding triggers Kafka throttle responses.
Cloud Partition Quota cluster
partitions · simultaneous
-1
Per-tier cap on total partitions per Cloud cluster; subject to subscription tier.

Policies

Kafka Throttling Response
Kafka clients receive a throttle_time_ms response field; well-behaved clients honor it and back off automatically. Most modern Kafka libraries handle this transparently.
Quota Discovery
Use rpk cluster quotas describe (or the AdminClient describeClientQuotas RPC) to enumerate active quotas; tune via rpk cluster quotas alter or the Admin API.
Cloud Tier Selection
Right-size the Cloud Serverless or Dedicated tier to peak ingress/egress; upgrade tier or switch to Dedicated/BYOC if sustained throughput approaches the cap.

Sources