Glossary
Rate Limiting
TL;DR
Rate limits are typically expressed as requests per minute or requests per hour. When you exceed the limit, the API returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header indicating how long to wait.
**Rate limits across e-signature providers**
• Signbee: 100/min (free), 1,000/min (paid) • DocuSign: 1,000/hour (~17/min) • HelloSign: 100/min • PandaDoc: 300/min • BoldSign: 300/min
**Why rate limits matter for e-signatures**
Unlike a failed analytics call, a rate-limited e-signature request means a real document never reaches a real person. An NDA that doesn't arrive delays a deal. An offer letter that silently fails means a candidate hears nothing.
**How to handle rate limits**
1. Implement exponential backoff — wait 2s, 4s, 8s between retries 2. Respect the Retry-After header when present 3. Use Promise.allSettled (not Promise.all) for batch sends 4. Chunk concurrent requests into groups of 10-20 5. Monitor your 429 rate — it should be below 1%
**Rate limits and batch signing**
When sending 50+ documents, rate limits become the primary constraint. The pattern is: chunk documents into groups, send each group concurrently, pause between groups, and retry any failures with backoff.
Related terms
Further reading
Related resources
Try Signbee — e-signatures via API.