Sentry Rate Limits & Quota Optimization

Sentry Rate Limits & Quota Optimization

Overview

Manage Sentry rate limits, sampling strategies, and quota usage to control costs without losing visibility into critical errors. Covers client-side sampling, beforeSend filtering, server-side inbound filters, per-key rate limits, spike protection, and the usage stats API.

Prerequisites

• Sentry account with a project DSN configured
• SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN with org:read and project:write scopes (Settings > Auth Tokens)
• SENTRY_ORG and SENTRY_PROJECT slugs known
• SDK installed: @sentry/​node (npm) or sentry-sdk (pip)
• Current event volume visible at sentry.io/​stats/

Instructions

Step 1 — Understand Rate Limit Behavior

When your project exceeds its quota, Sentry returns 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header. The SDK automatically stops sending events until the cooldown expires. Events generated during this window are permanently lost — there is no replay mechanism.

Rate limit tiers by plan:

Quota categories (billed separately):

• Errors — exceptions and log messages
• Transactions — performance monitoring spans
• Replays — session replay recordings
• Attachments — file uploads (crash dumps, minidumps)
• Profiles — continuous profiling data
• Cron monitors — scheduled job check-ins

Rate limit headers returned on 429:

HTTP/​1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 60
X-Sentry-Rate-Limit-Limit: 50
X-Sentry-Rate-Limit-Remaining: 0
X-Sentry-Rate-Limit-Reset: 1711324800

Step 2 — Configure Client-Side Sampling

Sampling is the first line of defense. Set sampleRate for errors and tracesSampleRate for performance transactions.

TypeScript / Node.js:

import * as Sentry from '@sentry/​node';

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,

  // Error sampling: 0.0 (drop all) to 1.0 (capture all)
  sampleRate: 0.25, // Capture 25% of errors

  // Transaction sampling: 0.0 to 1.0
  tracesSampleRate: 0.1, // Capture 10% of transactions

  // Dynamic transaction sampling — route-aware cost control
  tracesSampler: (samplingContext) => {
    const { name, parentSampled } = samplingContext;

    // Respect parent sampling decision in distributed traces
    if (parentSampled !== undefined) return parentSampled;

    // Drop health checks and readiness probes entirely
    if (name === 'GET /​health' || name === 'GET /​readiness') return 0;
    if (name?.includes('/​health')) return 0;

    // High-value: payment and auth flows at 100%
    if (name?.includes('/​api/​payment') || name?.includes('/​api/​auth')) return 1.0;

    // Medium-value: API routes at 20%
    if (name?.startsWith('GET /​api/') || name?.startsWith('POST /​api/')) return 0.2;

    // Low-value: static assets — never trace
    if (name?.startsWith('GET /​static/') || name?.startsWith('GET /​assets/')) return 0;

    // Default fallback: 5%
    return 0.05;
  },
});

Python:

import sentry_sdk

def traces_sampler(sampling_context):
    tx_name = sampling_context.get("transaction_context", {}).get("name", "")

    # Drop health checks
    if "/​health" in tx_name or "/​readiness" in tx_name:
        return 0

    # High-value flows
    if "/​api/​payment" in tx_name or "/​api/​auth" in tx_name:
        return 1.0

    # API routes
    if tx_name.startswith(("GET /​api/", "POST /​api/")):
        return 0.2

    # Static assets
    if tx_name.startswith(("GET /​static/", "GET /​assets/")):
        return 0

    return 0.05

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ["SENTRY_DSN"],
    sample_rate=0.25,          # 25% of errors
    traces_sample_rate=0.1,    # 10% of transactions (fallback if no sampler)
    traces_sampler=traces_sampler,
)

Step 3 — Filter Noisy Errors with beforeSend

Use beforeSend to drop events before they count against your quota. This runs client-side, so filtered events never reach Sentry.

TypeScript / Node.js:

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,

  beforeSend(event, hint) {
    const error = hint?.originalException as Error | undefined;

    // Drop browser extension errors (common in frontend SDKs)
    if (event.exception?.values?.some(e =>
      e.stacktrace?.frames?.some(f =>
        f.filename?.includes('extensions://') ||
        f.filename?.includes('moz-extension://') ||
        f.filename?.includes('chrome-extension://')
      )
    )) {
      return null; // Drop the event
    }

    // Drop known noisy browser errors
    if (error?.message?.match(/​ResizeObserver loop/)) return null;
    if (error?.message?.match(/​Non-Error promise rejection/)) return null;
    if (error?.name === 'AbortError') return null;
    if (error?.message?.match(/​Load failed/)) return null;

    // CRITICAL: Always capture payment errors regardless of sampleRate
    if (error?.message?.includes('PaymentError') ||
        event.tags?.['transaction.type'] === 'payment') {
      return event; // Force capture
    }

    return event;
  },

  // Pattern-based error filtering (faster than beforeSend for known strings)
  ignoreErrors: [
    'ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications',
    'Non-Error promise rejection captured',
    /​Loading chunk \d+ failed/,
    'Network request failed',
    'Failed to fetch',
    'AbortError',
    /^Script error\.?$/,
    'TypeError: cancelled',
    'TypeError: NetworkError when attempting to fetch resource',
  ],

  // Block errors originating from third-party scripts
  denyUrls: [
    /​extensions\//i,
    /^chrome:\/\//i,
    /^chrome-extension:\/\//i,
    /^moz-extension:\/\//i,
    /​hotjar\.com/,
    /​google-analytics\.com/,
    /​googletagmanager\.com/,
    /​intercom\.io/,
  ],
});

Python:

def before_send(event, hint):
    if "exc_info" in hint:
        exc_type, exc_value, _ = hint["exc_info"]

        # Drop known noisy exceptions
        if exc_type.__name__ in ("ConnectionResetError", "BrokenPipeError"):
            return None

        # Drop health check 404s
        msg = str(exc_value)
        if "health" in msg.lower() and "404" in msg:
            return None

    # Always capture payment errors
    if event.get("tags", {}).get("transaction.type") == "payment":
        return event

    return event

sentry_sdk.init(
    dsn=os.environ["SENTRY_DSN"],
    before_send=before_send,
    ignore_errors=[
        "ConnectionResetError",
        "BrokenPipeError",
    ],
)

Step 4 — Enable Server-Side Inbound Data Filters

Inbound filters run on Sentry's servers before quota counting. Filtered events do not consume quota — this is free filtering.

Configure at Project Settings > Inbound Filters:

Configure via API:

# Enable legacy browser filter
curl -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/​json" \
  -d '{"active": true}' \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​filters/​legacy-browsers/"

# Enable browser extension filter
curl -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/​json" \
  -d '{"active": true}' \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​filters/​browser-extensions/"

# Enable web crawler filter
curl -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/​json" \
  -d '{"active": true}' \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​filters/​web-crawlers/"

Step 5 — Set Per-Key Rate Limits

Each DSN (Client Key) can have its own rate limit. This prevents a single project from exhausting the organization's entire quota.

Configure at Project Settings > Client Keys > Configure > Rate Limiting.

# Set rate limit to 1000 events per hour on a specific client key
# First, list client keys to find the key ID
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​keys/" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

# Then set the rate limit
curl -X PUT \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/​json" \
  -d '{"rateLimit": {"window": 3600, "count": 1000}}' \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​keys/​$KEY_ID/"

Strategy for multi-environment setups:

• Production DSN: 5,000 events/​hour (critical errors matter)
• Staging DSN: 500 events/​hour (only need representative sample)
• Development DSN: 100 events/​hour (prevent local debugging floods)

Step 6 — Enable Spike Protection

Spike protection is auto-enabled on Team and Business plans. It detects sudden event volume increases and temporarily rate-limits the project to prevent quota exhaustion from error storms.

Configure at Organization Settings > Spike Protection.

When spike protection triggers:

1. Sentry detects volume exceeding 10x normal baseline
2. Events are temporarily dropped (429 returned to SDK)
3. An email notification is sent to organization owners
4. Protection auto-disables after the spike subsides

For programmatic spike alerts, set up a Sentry alert rule:

• Condition: Number of events in project exceeds threshold
• Action: Send notification to Slack/​PagerDuty/​email
• Frequency: Alert once per hour

Step 7 — Monitor Quota Usage via API

# Organization-wide usage stats for the last 7 days, grouped by category
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​organizations/​$SENTRY_ORG/​stats_v2/?field=sum(quantity)&groupBy=category&interval=1d&statsPeriod=7d" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

# Per-project usage breakdown
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​organizations/​$SENTRY_ORG/​stats_v2/?field=sum(quantity)&groupBy=project&category=error&interval=1d&statsPeriod=7d" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

# Outcome-based stats (accepted, filtered, rate_limited, invalid)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​organizations/​$SENTRY_ORG/​stats_v2/?field=sum(quantity)&groupBy=outcome&category=error&interval=1d&statsPeriod=24h" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Step 8 — Reduce Payload Size and Deduplicate

Reduce event size and improve grouping to lower quota consumption:

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.SENTRY_DSN,
  maxBreadcrumbs: 30,   // Default: 100
  maxValueLength: 500,   // Default: 250

  beforeSend(event) {
    // Truncate large request bodies
    if (event.request?.data && typeof event.request.data === 'string') {
      event.request.data = event.request.data.substring(0, 1000);
    }
    // Remove cookies
    if (event.request?.cookies) delete event.request.cookies;

    // Custom fingerprinting: normalize dynamic values for better grouping
    if (event.exception?.values?.[0]) {
      const { type, value } = event.exception.values[0];
      const normalized = value
        ?.replace(/\b[0-9a-f]{8}(-[0-9a-f]{4}){3}-[0-9a-f]{12}\b/​gi, '<UUID>')
        ?.replace(/\b\d+\b/​g, '<N>') || '';
      event.fingerprint = [type || 'unknown', normalized];
    }
    return event;
  },
});

Output

After completing these steps, you will have:

• Sampling rates configured (sampleRate, tracesSampleRate, tracesSampler) to reduce event volume while preserving visibility into critical paths
• beforeSend filtering dropping noisy browser errors (ResizeObserver, AbortError, extension errors) before they count against quota
• ignoreErrors and denyUrls patterns blocking known false positives
• Server-side inbound filters enabled for free pre-quota filtering
• Per-key rate limits set to prevent single-project quota exhaustion
• Spike protection enabled and alert rules configured
• Quota monitoring via the /​stats_v2/ API endpoint
• Custom fingerprinting reducing event duplication

Error Handling

Examples

Example 1 — Quota Monitoring Bash Script

#!/​usr/​bin/​env bash
# Monitor Sentry quota usage and alert if approaching limit
set -euo pipefail

ORG="${SENTRY_ORG:?Set SENTRY_ORG}"
TOKEN="${SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN:?Set SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN}"
THRESHOLD=${QUOTA_THRESHOLD:-80}  # Alert at 80% usage

accepted=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  "https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​organizations/​$ORG/​stats_v2/?field=sum(quantity)&groupBy=outcome&category=error&statsPeriod=1h&interval=1h" \
  | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for g in data.get('groups', []):
    if g['by'].get('outcome') == 'accepted':
        print(g['totals']['sum(quantity)']); break
else: print(0)")

echo "Accepted events (last hour): $accepted"
[ "$accepted" -gt "$THRESHOLD" ] && echo "WARNING: volume $accepted > threshold $THRESHOLD"

Example 2 — Enable All Inbound Filters via API

#!/​usr/​bin/​env bash
set -euo pipefail
BASE="https://sentry.io/​api/​0/​projects/​$SENTRY_ORG/​$SENTRY_PROJECT/​filters"
AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN"

for filter in legacy-browsers browser-extensions web-crawlers; do
  curl -s -X PUT -H "$AUTH" -H "Content-Type: application/​json" \
    -d '{"active": true}' "$BASE/​$filter/" && echo "Enabled: $filter"
done

Resources

• Quota Management — billing categories, quota limits, and overage handling
• Manage Your Event Stream — step-by-step cost reduction guide
• Sampling Configuration — sampleRate, tracesSampleRate, tracesSampler
• Filtering Events — beforeSend, ignoreErrors, denyUrls
• Inbound Data Filters — server-side free filtering
• Rate Limiting API — per-key rate limit configuration
• Stats API v2 — usage monitoring endpoint

Next Steps

• Cost review: Query /​stats_v2/ weekly to track spend trends by category
• Alert rules: Create Sentry alerts for volume spikes per project
• Replay sampling: Apply replaysSessionSampleRate and replaysOnErrorSampleRate for session replay cost control
• Server-side sampling: Explore Sentry Dynamic Sampling (server-side) for organization-wide policies
• Audit ignoreErrors: Review quarterly — patterns may suppress real bugs as code evolves