Rate Limiting
Rate limiting is a server-side defense that restricts the number of requests a client can make within a given time window.
When a scraper exceeds the rate limit, the server returns a 429 (Too Many Requests) error or silently drops the connection. Cloud scrapers with proxy rotation distribute requests across many IPs to stay within per-IP rate limits.
Related Terms
Proxy Rotation
Proxy rotation is the practice of cycling through multiple IP addresses when making scraping requests, so the target server sees different IPs instead of repeated requests from the same source.
CAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a challenge-response test used to determine whether a user is human.
Anti-Bot Protection
Anti-bot protection refers to the suite of server-side and client-side defenses websites use to detect and block automated traffic.