Limits and refusals
Pastesite gives every visitor a share of a shared service. The limits on this page are what stops one script, or one bad afternoon, from using it all up. They are ordinary rate limits: a window, a count, and a message that says which one you hit.
A 429 is not a ban. It means "not this many, not right now". Nothing is deleted, nothing is marked on your account, and the window rolls off by itself — ten minutes for most burst limits, twenty-four hours for daily allowances.
The limits, in one table
| Action | Limit | Counted per |
|---|---|---|
| Create a paste, anonymous | 50 per 24 hours per browser | Browser |
| Create a paste, Free account | 50 per 24 hours per account, and per browser | Account, and also the browser |
| Create a paste, Plus | 2,000 per 24 hours per account | Account |
| Anonymous burst | 10 per 10 minutes per network | Network |
| Create attempts (including refused ones) | 30 per 10 minutes per account when signed in; per network when anonymous | Account, or network |
| Paste size | 100,000 characters on Free and anonymous; 250,000 characters on Plus | Paste |
| Images attached to one paste | 3 images, about 500 KB each (1.4 MB in total) | Paste |
| Reads | 300 per 10 minutes per network | Network |
| Password attempts | 8 per 15 minutes per network; 30 per 15 minutes per paste | Network, and the paste |
| Abuse reports | 5 per hour per network | Network |
| Expiry | 525,600 minutes (1 year) | Paste |
| Create an account | 6 per hour per network; 6 per day per browser | Network, and the browser |
| Resend a confirmation email | 4 per hour per network; 3 per hour per address | Network, and the address |
Limits are enforced on the server; these are the values in force today. Burst windows are rolling, not aligned to the clock.
Shared networks, VPNs and offices
A VPN exit, a mobile carrier and an office all put unrelated people behind one address. Counting daily allowances per address therefore refused the second person for the first person's usage, which is not a limit anyone can plan around.
So the daily unit is the browser, not the address. Anonymous visitors and Free accounts get their own 50 per 24 hours in each browser, and the same account used in another browser gets that browser's allowance. A per-network burst still applies — 10 anonymous creations per 10 minutes — because a single connection flooding the service is the shape that needs stopping.
One anti-farming limit is still per network: accounts first seen in the last 24 hours share a ceiling of 150 weighted creations per 24 hours on that network, and each new account spends two of them. Established accounts, anonymous visitors and Plus are not affected. It exists because a new account is otherwise a new daily allowance, and signing up repeatedly is the one abuse an address can actually identify.
What signing in changes
- Your own daily quota instead of the shared anonymous one: 50 on Free, 2,000 on Plus.
- Attempts counted per account, so a busy office cannot spend your attempts and you cannot spend theirs.
- Folders, edit history, a dashboard and a public profile — the account features, not limits.
- Not another browser allowance on Free. The browser still shares its 50 between the Free accounts used in it; Plus is exempt from both the account quota's neighbours and the browser allowance.
Signing in is never required to read a paste, and it never changes what an existing link does.
What to do when you hit one
- Read the message. It names the window — "wait a few minutes" is a burst, "rolling 24 hours" is a daily allowance.
- Wait for the window named. There is no reset button to press and no way to clear it early, including deleting a paste: the budget records creations, not stored rows.
- Sign in if you are anonymous and need a sustained allowance. That gives you the account's own 50 or 2,000 per day rather than the shared anonymous one.
- Upgrade to Plus if 2,000 a day is still not enough, or if you need API keys and terminal access. Compare plans.
If it happens in normal use
These numbers are set far above ordinary use: a person sharing snippets in chat does not create 50 pastes a day, and a reader does not open 300. If you are refused while doing normal work, that is worth reporting rather than working around — send the time, the page and the message to [email protected] or use the contact page. During a sustained flood the whole site can pause new pastes for a short period; reading and existing links keep working, and the pause lifts on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Does a 429 mean I am banned?
No. A 429 is a speed limit with a window, not a ban. The window rolls off on its own — ten minutes for most burst limits, twenty-four hours for daily allowances — and nothing is deleted or marked on your account.
Why does creating another account not add more pastes?
On Free, the daily allowance follows the browser as well as the account, so a second Free account in the same browser does not bring a second 50. Plus is exempt, and the account quota is still separate: the same account signed in on another browser gets that browser's own allowance.
Does a VPN reduce my allowance?
No. Anonymous and Free allowances follow the browser, so unrelated people on the same VPN exit no longer share one daily quota. A per-network burst still applies to stop flooding, and accounts first seen in the last 24 hours share a separate anti-farm ceiling.