Node.js Rate Limiting Libraries Comparison
limiter vs express-rate-limit vs ratelimiter
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What's Node.js Rate Limiting Libraries?

Rate limiting libraries in Node.js are essential for controlling the amount of incoming requests to a server within a specified timeframe. They help prevent abuse and ensure fair usage of resources by limiting the number of requests a user can make. These libraries provide various strategies for implementing rate limiting, such as in-memory storage, Redis integration, and more. By using these libraries, developers can enhance the security and performance of their applications while providing a better user experience by preventing server overload.

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limiter6,506,1851,510-204 years agoMIT
express-rate-limit1,375,8852,922117 kB52 months agoMIT
ratelimiter423,875719-105 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: limiter vs express-rate-limit vs ratelimiter

Integration

  • limiter:

    Limiter is a standalone library that can be integrated into any Node.js application, not just those using Express. It provides a flexible API that allows you to implement rate limiting in various contexts, making it suitable for microservices or non-Express applications.

  • express-rate-limit:

    Express-rate-limit is specifically designed for Express.js applications, providing middleware that can be easily integrated into your route handlers. It allows you to apply rate limiting rules directly within your Express routes, making it very convenient for Express developers.

  • ratelimiter:

    Ratelimiter is also a standalone library, but it focuses on high-performance scenarios. It can be integrated into any Node.js application and is optimized for speed, making it a good choice for applications that require rapid request handling.

Configuration Flexibility

  • limiter:

    Limiter provides extensive configuration options, allowing you to define complex rate limiting rules, such as different limits for different routes or user roles. This flexibility makes it suitable for applications with diverse rate limiting needs.

  • express-rate-limit:

    Express-rate-limit offers a variety of configuration options, allowing you to set limits based on different criteria such as IP address, request path, and more. You can also customize the response sent to clients when they exceed the limit, providing a tailored user experience.

  • ratelimiter:

    Ratelimiter offers a more straightforward configuration model with a focus on performance. While it may not have as many options as limiter, it provides essential features that cover most use cases effectively.

Performance

  • limiter:

    Limiter is designed for performance and can handle high request volumes efficiently. It supports various storage backends, including Redis, which allows for distributed rate limiting across multiple instances of your application.

  • express-rate-limit:

    While express-rate-limit is efficient for most applications, it stores rate limit data in memory by default, which may not be suitable for distributed systems. However, it can be configured to use external stores like Redis for better scalability.

  • ratelimiter:

    Ratelimiter is optimized for high throughput and low latency, making it an excellent choice for performance-critical applications. It is lightweight and can handle a large number of requests without significant overhead.

Use Cases

  • limiter:

    Ideal for applications that require complex rate limiting strategies or need to manage rate limits across different contexts. Suitable for microservices or APIs with varying rate limiting needs.

  • express-rate-limit:

    Best suited for Express.js applications where you need a quick and easy way to implement rate limiting without additional dependencies. Ideal for projects that require basic rate limiting features.

  • ratelimiter:

    Best for high-traffic applications that demand efficient request handling. It is suitable for scenarios where performance is critical, and you need a lightweight solution.

Community and Support

  • limiter:

    Limiter has a smaller community compared to express-rate-limit but is still well-documented. It may not have as many resources available, but it is actively maintained.

  • express-rate-limit:

    Express-rate-limit has a large user base and is well-documented, making it easy to find support and examples. The community actively contributes to its development, ensuring it stays up-to-date with best practices.

  • ratelimiter:

    Ratelimiter has a growing community and is gaining popularity for its performance features. While documentation is available, it may not be as extensive as express-rate-limit.

How to Choose: limiter vs express-rate-limit vs ratelimiter
  • limiter:

    Choose limiter if you require a more flexible and customizable rate limiting solution that can work outside of Express. It allows you to define complex rate limiting strategies and is suitable for applications that need to manage rate limits across different contexts.

  • express-rate-limit:

    Choose express-rate-limit if you are using Express.js and need a straightforward solution for rate limiting with built-in middleware support. It is highly configurable and integrates seamlessly with Express applications.

  • ratelimiter:

    Choose ratelimiter if you need a lightweight and efficient rate limiting library that focuses on performance. It is designed for high throughput and can be used in various Node.js environments, making it ideal for applications with high traffic.

Similar Npm Packages to limiter

limiter is a rate-limiting middleware for Node.js applications. It helps developers control the rate at which requests are processed, preventing abuse and ensuring fair usage of resources. By implementing rate limiting, applications can protect themselves from denial-of-service attacks and manage traffic more effectively. While limiter provides a solid solution for rate limiting, there are other libraries that serve similar purposes. Here are a few alternatives:

  • express-rate-limit is a popular middleware for Express applications that allows you to limit repeated requests to public APIs and endpoints. It is highly configurable, enabling developers to set limits based on various criteria such as IP address, request path, and more. With built-in support for handling exceeded limits, express-rate-limit is an excellent choice for Express applications that require robust rate-limiting capabilities.
  • ratelimiter is another rate-limiting library that provides a simple and flexible API for implementing rate limits in Node.js applications. It allows developers to define limits based on different criteria and offers features such as burst control and dynamic rate limits. If you are looking for a lightweight and straightforward solution for rate limiting, ratelimiter is a great option.

To see how limiter compares with express-rate-limit and ratelimiter, check out the comparison: Comparing express-rate-limit vs limiter vs ratelimiter.

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.

To explore how these packages compare, check out the following link: Comparing express-brute vs express-rate-limit vs express-slow-down vs rate-limiter-flexible.

Similar Npm Packages to ratelimiter

ratelimiter is a rate-limiting library for Node.js applications that helps manage the number of requests a user can make to a server within a specified time frame. This is particularly useful for protecting APIs from abuse, ensuring fair usage, and preventing server overload. While ratelimiter provides a solid solution for rate limiting, there are several alternatives available in the Node.js ecosystem. Here are a few notable ones:

  • bottleneck is a powerful and flexible rate-limiting library for JavaScript. It allows developers to control the rate of function calls, making it suitable for scenarios like API requests, database queries, or any other asynchronous operations. Bottleneck supports features like priority queues, clustering, and multiple strategies for rate limiting, making it an excellent choice for applications that require fine-grained control over request rates and concurrency.

  • express-rate-limit is a middleware for Express.js applications that provides basic rate-limiting functionality. It is easy to set up and configure, allowing developers to limit repeated requests to public APIs and endpoints. This library is particularly useful for protecting against brute-force attacks and ensuring fair usage among users. If you are building an Express application and need a straightforward way to implement rate limiting, express-rate-limit is a great option.

  • limiter is a simple and lightweight rate-limiting library that can be used in Node.js applications. It provides a straightforward API for limiting the number of requests or operations that can be performed within a specified time frame. Limiter is ideal for developers looking for a minimalistic solution without the overhead of more complex libraries.

  • p-limit is a promise-based library that allows you to limit the number of concurrent asynchronous operations. While it is not a traditional rate limiter, it can be effectively used to control the concurrency of API requests or other asynchronous tasks. If your application needs to manage the number of simultaneous operations rather than just the rate of requests, p-limit is a suitable choice.

  • rate-limiter-flexible is a highly flexible rate-limiting library that supports various storage backends, including Redis, MongoDB, and in-memory storage. It offers advanced features like dynamic rate limiting, multiple strategies, and support for different types of limits (e.g., IP-based, user-based). This library is ideal for applications that require robust and customizable rate-limiting solutions.

To explore how ratelimiter compares with these alternatives, check out the comparison: Comparing bottleneck vs express-rate-limit vs limiter vs p-limit vs rate-limiter-flexible vs ratelimiter.

README for limiter

limiter

Build Status NPM Downloads

Provides a generic rate limiter for the web and node.js. Useful for API clients, web crawling, or other tasks that need to be throttled. Two classes are exposed, RateLimiter and TokenBucket. TokenBucket provides a lower level interface to rate limiting with a configurable burst rate and drip rate. RateLimiter sits on top of the token bucket and adds a restriction on the maximum number of tokens that can be removed each interval to comply with common API restrictions such as "150 requests per hour maximum".

Installation

yarn install limiter

Usage

A simple example allowing 150 requests per hour:

import { RateLimiter } from "limiter";

// Allow 150 requests per hour (the Twitter search limit). Also understands
// 'second', 'minute', 'day', or a number of milliseconds
const limiter = new RateLimiter({ tokensPerInterval: 150, interval: "hour" });

async function sendRequest() {
  // This call will throw if we request more than the maximum number of requests
  // that were set in the constructor
  // remainingRequests tells us how many additional requests could be sent
  // right this moment
  const remainingRequests = await limiter.removeTokens(1);
  callMyRequestSendingFunction(...);
}

Another example allowing one message to be sent every 250ms:

import { RateLimiter } from "limiter";

const limiter = new RateLimiter({ tokensPerInterval: 1, interval: 250 });

async function sendMessage() {
  const remainingMessages = await limiter.removeTokens(1);
  callMyMessageSendingFunction(...);
}

The default behaviour is to wait for the duration of the rate limiting that's currently in effect before the promise is resolved, but if you pass in "fireImmediately": true, the promise will be resolved immediately with remainingRequests set to -1:

import { RateLimiter } from "limiter";

const limiter = new RateLimiter({
  tokensPerInterval: 150,
  interval: "hour",
  fireImmediately: true
});

async function requestHandler(request, response) {
  // Immediately send 429 header to client when rate limiting is in effect
  const remainingRequests = await limiter.removeTokens(1);
  if (remainingRequests < 0) {
    response.writeHead(429, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain;charset=UTF-8'});
    response.end('429 Too Many Requests - your IP is being rate limited');
  } else {
    callMyMessageSendingFunction(...);
  }
}

A synchronous method, tryRemoveTokens(), is available in both RateLimiter and TokenBucket. This will return immediately with a boolean value indicating if the token removal was successful.

import { RateLimiter } from "limiter";

const limiter = new RateLimiter({ tokensPerInterval: 10, interval: "second" });

if (limiter.tryRemoveTokens(5))
  console.log('Tokens removed');
else
  console.log('No tokens removed');

To get the number of remaining tokens outside the removeTokens promise, simply use the getTokensRemaining method.

import { RateLimiter } from "limiter";

const limiter = new RateLimiter({ tokensPerInterval: 1, interval: 250 });

// Prints 1 since we did not remove a token and our number of tokens per
// interval is 1
console.log(limiter.getTokensRemaining());

Using the token bucket directly to throttle at the byte level:

import { TokenBucket } from "limiter";

const BURST_RATE = 1024 * 1024 * 150; // 150KB/sec burst rate
const FILL_RATE = 1024 * 1024 * 50; // 50KB/sec sustained rate

// We could also pass a parent token bucket in to create a hierarchical token
// bucket
// bucketSize, tokensPerInterval, interval
const bucket = new TokenBucket({
  bucketSize: BURST_RATE,
  tokensPerInterval: FILL_RATE,
  interval: "second"
});

async function handleData(myData) {
  await bucket.removeTokens(myData.byteLength);
  sendMyData(myData);
}

Additional Notes

Both the token bucket and rate limiter should be used with a message queue or some way of preventing multiple simultaneous calls to removeTokens(). Otherwise, earlier messages may get held up for long periods of time if more recent messages are continually draining the token bucket. This can lead to out of order messages or the appearance of "lost" messages under heavy load.

License

MIT License

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