Cloudflare API Rate Limiting (Error 971) Even with Low Request Volume
📙DNS👤Account
REST API⚔️Security
REST API⚔️SecurityHi everyone,
I’m currently building a DNS management system using the Cloudflare API (for managing DNS records: create, update, delete).
However, I’m facing a consistent issue where all API requests are immediately rate-limited, even on the very first request.
Issue details:
Endpoint tested: /client/v4/user/tokens/verify and /zones
Response:
HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests)
Cloudflare error code: 971
retry-after ~200–300 seconds
Environment:
VPS (OVH)
Proper API Token (Bearer authentication)
Very low request rate (manual testing, not automated)
Example:
curl -X GET "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/tokens/verify" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ***"
Response:
{"success":false,"errors":[{"code":971,"message":"Please wait and consider throttling your request speed"}]}
Observations:
This happens even with a single request
Switching endpoints doesn’t change the result
It appears unrelated to actual request volume
Questions:
Could this be related to IP reputation or VPS provider (OVH)?
Is Cloudflare applying stricter rate limits to certain IP ranges?
Are there recommended practices to avoid this (besides reducing request rate)?
Is there any way to improve IP trust or prevent being flagged like this?
This is for a legitimate DNS automation system (not scraping or abusive usage).
Any insights or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I’m currently building a DNS management system using the Cloudflare API (for managing DNS records: create, update, delete).
However, I’m facing a consistent issue where all API requests are immediately rate-limited, even on the very first request.
Issue details:
Endpoint tested: /client/v4/user/tokens/verify and /zones
Response:
HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests)
Cloudflare error code: 971
retry-after ~200–300 seconds
Environment:
VPS (OVH)
Proper API Token (Bearer authentication)
Very low request rate (manual testing, not automated)
Example:
curl -X GET "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/user/tokens/verify" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ***"
Response:
{"success":false,"errors":[{"code":971,"message":"Please wait and consider throttling your request speed"}]}
Observations:
This happens even with a single request
Switching endpoints doesn’t change the result
It appears unrelated to actual request volume
Questions:
Could this be related to IP reputation or VPS provider (OVH)?
Is Cloudflare applying stricter rate limits to certain IP ranges?
Are there recommended practices to avoid this (besides reducing request rate)?
Is there any way to improve IP trust or prevent being flagged like this?
This is for a legitimate DNS automation system (not scraping or abusive usage).
Any insights or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Welcome to the official Cloudflare Developers server. Here you can ask for help and stay updated with the latest news
86,942Members
Resources
Was this page helpful?
