Rate limiting libraries in Node.js are essential tools for controlling the number of requests a client can make to a server within a specified time frame. They help protect applications from abuse, such as denial-of-service attacks, and ensure fair usage among users. These libraries provide various strategies for implementing rate limiting, including in-memory storage, Redis support, and customizable response behaviors, making them versatile for different application needs.
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express-rate-limit
1,300,273
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MIT
rate-limiter-flexible
665,332
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25 days ago
ISC
express-slow-down
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MIT
express-brute
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BSD
Feature Comparison: express-rate-limit vs rate-limiter-flexible vs express-slow-down vs express-brute
Flexibility
express-rate-limit: Express-rate-limit provides a simpler approach with basic configuration options. While it is less flexible than express-brute, it is sufficient for common use cases and allows for quick setup with minimal configuration.
rate-limiter-flexible: Rate-limiter-flexible is highly flexible, supporting various storage options and allowing for dynamic rate limits based on user behavior. It can adapt to complex scenarios, making it suitable for applications with varying traffic patterns.
express-slow-down: Express-slow-down introduces flexibility in response behavior by allowing developers to slow down responses instead of blocking requests. This can be particularly useful in scenarios where you want to mitigate abuse without completely denying service.
express-brute: Express-brute offers extensive flexibility in defining rate limiting strategies, allowing developers to set limits based on various criteria such as IP address, user ID, or custom keys. It supports multiple storage backends, enabling tailored implementations for different application needs.
Performance
express-rate-limit: Express-rate-limit is lightweight and performs well for most applications. However, it may struggle under high concurrency if not configured properly, especially with in-memory storage. Using Redis can help mitigate performance issues in high-load scenarios.
rate-limiter-flexible: Rate-limiter-flexible is optimized for performance, especially when using Redis as a backend. It is designed to handle high concurrency and large volumes of requests efficiently, making it suitable for scalable applications.
express-slow-down: Express-slow-down is designed to maintain performance while adding a delay for abusive clients. However, it can still impact overall response times if many clients are being slowed down simultaneously, so it should be used judiciously.
express-brute: Express-brute can introduce performance overhead depending on the storage backend used. In-memory storage is fast, but for larger applications, using Redis or MongoDB may add latency. Careful consideration of the storage choice is essential for maintaining performance.
Ease of Use
express-rate-limit: Express-rate-limit is straightforward and easy to integrate into existing Express applications. Its simple API allows developers to quickly set up rate limiting with minimal effort, making it ideal for beginners or quick implementations.
rate-limiter-flexible: Rate-limiter-flexible offers a moderate learning curve. While it provides powerful features, developers may need to familiarize themselves with its API and configuration options to fully leverage its capabilities.
express-slow-down: Express-slow-down is also easy to use, especially for those familiar with express-rate-limit. It can be quickly added to an application to provide additional control over response behavior without complex configurations.
express-brute: Express-brute has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive configuration options and flexibility. Developers may need to invest time in understanding its API and how to implement custom strategies effectively.
Use Cases
express-rate-limit: Express-rate-limit is perfect for standard use cases where you want to limit requests based on IP address, such as APIs or public-facing applications. It is a go-to solution for most basic rate limiting needs.
rate-limiter-flexible: Rate-limiter-flexible is designed for high-performance applications that need dynamic and flexible rate limiting. It is suitable for large-scale applications with varying traffic patterns and user behaviors.
express-slow-down: Express-slow-down is useful in situations where you want to discourage abusive behavior without completely blocking users. It is ideal for applications that want to maintain user engagement while mitigating abuse.
express-brute: Express-brute is best suited for applications that require complex rate limiting strategies, such as those needing to limit requests based on user roles or specific actions. It is ideal for scenarios where different users or clients need different limits.
Community and Support
express-rate-limit: Express-rate-limit has a larger community and is widely used, leading to a wealth of resources, examples, and community support available for developers. This makes it easier to find solutions to common issues.
rate-limiter-flexible: Rate-limiter-flexible has a growing community and is gaining popularity, which means more resources and support are becoming available. Its documentation is comprehensive, aiding developers in implementation.
express-slow-down: Express-slow-down, being a part of the express-rate-limit ecosystem, benefits from similar community support and documentation. However, it may have fewer dedicated resources compared to more popular libraries.
express-brute: Express-brute has a smaller community compared to other libraries, which may result in fewer resources and examples available for troubleshooting. However, it is still well-documented and has a dedicated user base.
How to Choose: express-rate-limit vs rate-limiter-flexible vs express-slow-down vs express-brute
express-rate-limit: Choose express-rate-limit for a straightforward, easy-to-use rate limiting middleware that works well for most applications. It is perfect for simple use cases where you want to limit requests based on IP address and provides built-in support for various response formats when limits are exceeded.
rate-limiter-flexible: Choose rate-limiter-flexible if you require a highly flexible and performant rate limiting solution that supports Redis and in-memory storage. It offers advanced features like dynamic limits, multiple strategies, and the ability to handle large-scale applications with high concurrency.
express-slow-down: Choose express-slow-down if you want to implement a strategy that slows down responses for clients that exceed a certain request threshold, rather than outright blocking them. This is useful for reducing the impact of abusive clients without completely denying service.
express-brute: Choose express-brute if you need a highly customizable rate limiting solution that supports multiple backends for storing state, such as memory, Redis, or MongoDB. It allows for complex strategies like IP-based or user-based limits and provides hooks for custom behavior on limit exceedance.
Similar Npm Packages to express-rate-limit
express-rate-limit is a middleware for Express.js that helps to limit repeated requests to public APIs and endpoints. It is particularly useful for preventing abuse and ensuring fair usage of resources by controlling the rate at which clients can make requests. By implementing rate limiting, developers can protect their applications from denial-of-service attacks and reduce the load on their servers.
While express-rate-limit is a popular choice for rate limiting in Express applications, there are several alternatives that offer different features and capabilities. Here are a few notable options:
express-brute is a robust rate-limiting middleware for Express.js that provides more advanced features compared to express-rate-limit. It allows you to define complex rate-limiting strategies, including support for different stores (like memory, Redis, etc.) and customizable error messages. If you need a more flexible and powerful solution for rate limiting that can handle various scenarios, express-brute is a great choice.
express-slow-down is another middleware for Express.js that focuses on slowing down responses instead of outright blocking requests. This can be particularly useful in situations where you want to deter abusive behavior without completely denying access. By introducing delays for repeated requests, express-slow-down can help mitigate the impact of abusive clients while still allowing them to access the service.
rate-limiter-flexible is a flexible and powerful rate-limiting library that can be used with various frameworks, including Express.js. It supports a wide range of features, such as different storage backends (Redis, MongoDB, etc.), dynamic limits based on user roles, and more. If you need a highly configurable rate-limiting solution that can adapt to different requirements, rate-limiter-flexible is an excellent option.
rate-limiter-flexible is a powerful and flexible rate-limiting library for Node.js applications. It allows developers to implement rate-limiting strategies to control the number of requests a user can make to an API or service within a specified time frame. This is particularly useful for protecting APIs from abuse, ensuring fair usage, and maintaining performance under high load. The library supports various storage backends, including in-memory, Redis, and MongoDB, making it adaptable to different application architectures.
While rate-limiter-flexible is a robust solution, there are several alternatives available in the Node.js ecosystem that also provide rate-limiting capabilities. Here are a few notable ones:
bottleneck is a powerful rate-limiting library that allows you to control the rate of function execution. It provides features such as concurrency control, priority queues, and scheduling, making it suitable for scenarios where you need to manage the execution of asynchronous tasks. If your application requires more than just simple request limiting and you need to manage the execution of functions or tasks, bottleneck is an excellent choice.
express-rate-limit is a middleware for Express applications that provides basic rate-limiting functionality. It is easy to set up and configure, making it a popular choice for developers using the Express framework. If you are looking for a straightforward solution to limit the number of requests to your Express routes, express-rate-limit is a simple and effective option.
limiter is another lightweight rate-limiting library for Node.js. It provides a simple API for limiting the rate of function calls and can be easily integrated into existing applications. If you need a minimalistic approach to rate limiting without the overhead of more complex libraries, limiter can be a suitable choice.
express-slow-down is an Express middleware that helps mitigate brute-force attacks by slowing down responses to repeated requests from the same IP address. It works by introducing a delay in the response time for requests that exceed a specified limit, effectively discouraging malicious users from overwhelming your server with rapid requests. This package is particularly useful for protecting login routes or sensitive endpoints in your Express applications.
While express-slow-down is effective, there are several alternatives that provide similar functionality for rate limiting and request management. Here are a few notable options:
express-brute is a simple and flexible rate-limiting middleware for Express applications. It allows developers to define custom strategies for handling brute-force attacks, including in-memory storage, Redis, or MongoDB. With express-brute, you can easily configure how many requests are allowed from a single IP address within a specified timeframe, making it a robust choice for protecting your application from abuse.
express-rate-limit is another popular middleware for rate limiting in Express applications. It provides a straightforward way to limit repeated requests to public APIs and endpoints. With express-rate-limit, you can set a maximum number of requests per IP address within a given timeframe, and it comes with built-in support for handling exceeded limits gracefully. This package is widely used and well-documented, making it a reliable choice for developers looking to implement rate limiting.
rate-limiter-flexible is a highly flexible rate-limiting library that can be used with various storage backends, including Redis, MongoDB, and in-memory storage. It allows for advanced configurations such as different limits for different routes, dynamic limits based on user roles, and more. This package is ideal for applications that require fine-grained control over rate limiting and need to support complex use cases.
express-brute is a middleware for Express.js that provides a simple way to implement brute-force protection for your applications. It helps prevent abuse by limiting the number of requests a client can make to your server within a specified time frame. This is particularly useful for protecting sensitive endpoints, such as login routes, from automated attacks. With its customizable options, express-brute allows developers to define their own strategies for handling requests and responses, making it a flexible choice for rate limiting.
While express-brute is a robust option for rate limiting, there are several alternatives available in the Express ecosystem that also provide similar functionalities:
express-limiter is a simple rate-limiting middleware for Express applications. It allows developers to define limits on the number of requests a client can make over a specified time period. express-limiter is straightforward to use and can be easily integrated into existing Express applications, making it a good choice for projects that require basic rate-limiting functionality without additional complexity.
express-rate-limit is another popular middleware for rate limiting in Express applications. It provides a more feature-rich solution compared to express-limiter, allowing for advanced configurations such as custom error messages, dynamic limits based on request properties, and more. express-rate-limit is widely used and well-documented, making it a reliable choice for developers looking to implement rate limiting in their applications.
express-slow-down is a middleware that complements rate limiting by slowing down responses for clients that exceed specified request limits. Instead of outright blocking requests, express-slow-down introduces a delay for subsequent requests, which can help mitigate abuse while still allowing legitimate users to access the application. This can be particularly useful for protecting endpoints from brute-force attacks without completely denying access.
rate-limiter-flexible is a powerful and flexible rate-limiting library that can be used with various Node.js frameworks, including Express. It supports a wide range of storage options, including in-memory, Redis, and MongoDB, making it suitable for applications that require scalability and persistence. rate-limiter-flexible offers advanced features such as dynamic limits, multiple strategies, and custom error handling, making it an excellent choice for complex applications.
Basic rate-limiting middleware for Express. Use to
limit repeated requests to public APIs and/or endpoints such as password reset.
Plays nice with
express-slow-down and
ratelimit-header-parser.
import { rateLimit } from 'express-rate-limit'
const limiter = rateLimit({
windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, // 15 minutes
limit: 100, // Limit each IP to 100 requests per `window` (here, per 15 minutes).
standardHeaders: 'draft-7', // draft-6: `RateLimit-*` headers; draft-7: combined `RateLimit` header
legacyHeaders: false, // Disable the `X-RateLimit-*` headers.
// store: ... , // Redis, Memcached, etc. See below.
})
// Apply the rate limiting middleware to all requests.
app.use(limiter)
Data Stores
The rate limiter comes with a built-in memory store, and supports a variety of
external data stores.
Configuration
All function options may be async. Click the name for additional info and
default values.
| Option | Type | Remarks |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| windowMs | number | How long to remember requests for, in milliseconds. |
| limit | number | function | How many requests to allow. |
| message | string | json | function | Response to return after limit is reached. |
| statusCode | number | HTTP status code after limit is reached (default is 429). |
| handler | function | Function to run after limit is reached (overrides message and statusCode settings, if set). |
| legacyHeaders | boolean | Enable the X-Rate-Limit header. |
| standardHeaders | 'draft-6' | 'draft-7' | Enable the Ratelimit header. |
| store | Store | Use a custom store to share hit counts across multiple nodes. |
| passOnStoreError | boolean | Allow (true) or block (false, default) traffic if the store becomes unavailable. |
| keyGenerator | function | Identify users (defaults to IP address). |
| requestPropertyName | string | Add rate limit info to the req object. |
| skip | function | Return true to bypass the limiter for the given request. |
| skipSuccessfulRequests | boolean | Uncount 1xx/2xx/3xx responses. |
| skipFailedRequests | boolean | Uncount 4xx/5xx responses. |
| requestWasSuccessful | function | Used by skipSuccessfulRequests and skipFailedRequests. |
| validate | boolean | object | Enable or disable built-in validation checks. |
Thank You
Sponsored by Zuplo a fully-managed API
Gateway for developers. Add
dynamic rate-limiting,
authentication and more to any API in minutes. Learn more at
zuplo.com
Finally, thank you to everyone who's contributed to this project in any way! 🫶
Issues and Contributing
If you encounter a bug or want to see something added/changed, please go ahead
and
open an issue!
If you need help with something, feel free to
start a discussion!
If you wish to contribute to the library, thanks! First, please read
the contributing guide.
Then you can pick up any issue and fix/implement it!