# Contextualized Embeddings endpoint (/v1/contextualizedembeddings) rate-limits per chunk instead of per request
**URL:** https://community.perplexity.ai/t/contextualized-embeddings-endpoint-v1-contextualizedembeddings-rate-limits-per-chunk-instead-of-per-request/6184
**Category:** Bug Reports
**Tags:** api, embeddings-api
**Created:** [September 23, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/contextualized-embeddings-endpoint-v1-contextualizedembeddings-rate-limits-per-chunk-instead-of-per-request/6184 "2026-09-23T20:50:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dbrickner](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/dbrickner)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/contextualized-embeddings-endpoint-v1-contextualizedembeddings-rate-limits-per-chunk-instead-of-per-request/6184/1 "2026-09-23T20:50:33Z")
## Pre-flight checklist
- This is about the Perplexity API, not the Perplexity app, Computer, Comet, or web UI.
- I have removed API keys, secrets, and private data.
- I have included enough information for someone else to reproduce the issue.
## Bug type
- Error response or failed request
- Incorrect or unexpected model output
- Missing, invalid, or stale citations/search results
- Streaming issue
- Structured output or JSON schema issue
- SDK issue
- Billing, credits, or rate limit issue
- Dashboard, API key, or auth issue
- Other API bug
## Affected API area
- Agent API
- Search API
- Sonar API
- Embeddings API
- SDKs
- Dashboard, API keys, or auth
- Billing or credits
- Not sure
## Summary
The x-ratelimit-used value (and effectively x-ratelimit-remaining) is decremented per chunk sent in the request, not per request. The docs advertise this endpoint’s limit as a QPS (requests-per-second) figure, and the sibling standard endpoint (/v1/embeddings) correctly counts 1 unit per request regardless of how many texts are in it — this endpoint does not.
## Expected behavior
A single request to /v1/contextualizedembeddings should consume exactly 1 unit against the account’s rate limit (x-ratelimit-used should increment by 1), regardless of how many documents/chunks are included in the input array — matching both the documented QPS (requests-per-second) framing of this endpoint’s rate limit, and the behavior already correctly implemented on the sibling /v1/embeddings endpoint (confirmed: a 387-text request there consumes exactly 1 unit, not 387).
## Actual behavior
Instead, x-ratelimit-used currently increments by the total chunk count in the request (3, 129, and 387 all reproduced exactly), so the account’s QPS quota is consumed per-chunk instead of per-request.
## Minimal reproduction
1. Note account’s published limit for this endpoint: x-ratelimit-limit: 835 (Tier 1-3).
2. Send POST [https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/contextualizedembeddings](https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/contextualizedembeddings) with a payload of 9 documents × 43 chunks each = 387 chunks, in 1 request:
{
“model”: “pplx-embed-context-v1-4b”,
“input”: [/\* 9 arrays, 43 strings each, 387 total strings \*/],
“dimensions”: 2560,
“encoding\_format”: “base64\_int8”
}
3. Response headers show x-ratelimit-used: 387 for that single request — 46% of the entire 835 quota consumed by 1 of the ~835 requests/sec the limit should allow.
4. Send 2 more such requests back-to-back (3 requests total, 1,161 chunks, well under 835×3=2,505 if counted correctly per-request). The 3rd request returns HTTP 429 (request\_rate\_limit\_exceeded), because the account’s real per-window budget of 835 has already been consumed by ~2 requests, not the ~835 requests the documented QPS implies.
```bash
```
## Response or error
```json
Expected: at 835 QPS, sending 3 requests in quick succession should not come close to the limit. Actual: 3 requests of realistic size (9 docs/43 chunks — well within the documented 512-doc/16,000-chunk per-request caps) exhausts the quota and triggers 429s, because each request is being charged its chunk count instead of 1.
```
## Request details
- Endpoint: POST [https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/contextualizedembeddings](https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/contextualizedembeddings)
- Model or preset: pplx-embed-context-v1-4b
- SDK/language/version: Raw HTTP via Python requests (no SDK)
- Request ID: 8e0fb890-1eee-4fde-b1df-aeb3d30ee83c
- Approximate time and timezone: 2026-09-23 20:39:42 GMT (unix 1790195983)
- Consistent or intermittent: consistent
## Additional context
---
### Author:  [@andrewmadson-pplx](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/andrewmadson-pplx)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/contextualized-embeddings-endpoint-v1-contextualizedembeddings-rate-limits-per-chunk-instead-of-per-request/6184/2 "2026-09-24T18:43:24Z")
Hello @dbrickner ,
Thank you for your post. The contextualized embeddings model is working as expected, but the docs needed an update. Instead of QPS it should have said “Chunks per Second”. I updated the docs to reflect the correct behavior. I appreciate you finding this.
> **[Rate Limits & Usage Tiers - Perplexity](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/admin/rate-limits-usage-tiers)**
Andrew