Bluesky documents label rate limits and changes default relay limits for new PDS hosts

AnnouncedApr 2026

EffectiveNot stated

PlatformBluesky

What changed

In April 2026 Bluesky updated its rate limits documentation. A new Label Limits section caps every labeling service at 5 per second, 10,000 per hour and 100,000 per day (first published at 5,000 and 50,000, raised a week later). The relay's default limits for new PDS instances went from 1,500 to 2,600 events per hour and from 10,000 to 21,000 per day, with 50 per second unchanged, and a new default of 100 accounts per PDS. Per-account write limits (5,000 points per hour, 35,000 per day) did not change.

What it means

Labeling services are capped at 5 labels per second, 10,000 per hour and 100,000 per day, and new self-hosted PDS instances get higher event limits but a default cap of 100 accounts on Bluesky's relay.

Who is affected

Developers running labelers (for example Ozone instances) or their own PDS hosts. Accounts hosted by Bluesky and tools that post to them are not affected.

What to do

Labelers should batch and pace label output under the published caps. PDS operators who expect more than 100 accounts or more events should contact Bluesky to raise the defaults.

What this means for you

Bluesky lets outside groups add warning tags, called labels, to posts. In April 2026 it published how many labels each of those groups may add per hour and per day. It also changed limits for people who run their own Bluesky server. If your account is hosted by Bluesky and you just post, nothing changes for you.

The details

Label limits (new section): "The Bluesky API applies the following limits to all labeling services (eg, Ozone moderation instances): 5 per second, 10,000 per hour, 100,000 per day (24 hour period)." The section was added in mid-April 2026 at 5,000 per hour and 50,000 per day, then raised to 10,000 and 100,000 about a week later.
Relay limits for new PDS instances, "by default": stream events 50 per second (unchanged), 2,600 per hour (was 1,500) and 21,000 per day (was 10,000). New: "100 account maximum" and 5 accounts created per second. Bluesky says it can raise these for growing hosts.
Unchanged: per-account record writes of 5,000 points per hour and 35,000 per day (create 3, update 2, delete 1, so at most 1,666 creates per hour); 3,000 requests per 5 minutes per IP on the PDS; createSession 30 per 5 minutes and 300 per day per account; a 50 MB (52,428,800 byte) PDS blob limit. Over-limit requests usually get HTTP 429.
Dates: the page carries no dates. The April 2026 timing comes from the commit history of Bluesky's docs repository. The page now lives at bsky.network and is edited in bluesky-social/bps-website.
Earlier limits: see Bluesky opens federation for the 2024 launch limits.

What to do next

Business owners: Nothing.
Marketers and agencies: Nothing.
Developers: If you run a labeler, queue labels under 5 per second and the hourly and daily caps; if you run a PDS, plan for the 100-account default and back off on HTTP 429.

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