A practical guide to Gorgias API rate limits

Gorgias is a fantastic helpdesk for e-commerce brands, there's no question about it. But if you're trying to grow, the real power comes from connecting it to other tools using its API. That’s how you get into advanced automation and build custom workflows that give your team some time back. As many scaling businesses find, understanding Gorgias API rate limits is a standard part of building a robust technical setup.

If that term sounds technical, hang on. This guide will walk you through what these parameters are, how they help maintain platform stability, and how modern AI tools can help you build the automations you need within this reliable framework.

What are Gorgias API rate limits?

Before we dive into how to work with these limits, let's look at the basic definition so we're all on the same page.

The Gorgias API: Your key to integration

Think of an API (Application Programming Interface) as a translator that lets different software programs talk to each other. The Gorgias API is what lets you do impressive things outside the normal Gorgias dashboard, like automatically creating tickets, syncing customer info with your CRM, or building custom reports. It's the key to turning Gorgias into the central hub for your entire support setup.

The rate limit: A cap on API calls

To ensure every user gets a fast and reliable experience, Gorgias manages how many requests (or "calls") an app can make to the API in a certain amount of time.

Gorgias uses a system called the "leaky bucket algorithm." It’s a helpful visual: picture a bucket with a small hole in it. Every API request you make adds a drop of water to the bucket. At the same time, water is constantly flowing out at a set, steady rate. This ensures the system isn't overwhelmed by a sudden flood of requests, keeping the platform stable for everyone.

In real terms, the specific limits are:

• OAuth2 apps: 80 requests per 20-second window.
• API key integrations: 40 requests per 20-second window.

This isn't about how much data is in each request, just the number of requests you're making. As your business grows, you'll simply want to coordinate your automations to work within these high-performance windows.

Understanding Gorgias API rate limits in practice

For a growing e-commerce brand, these standard technical parameters are important to keep in mind when designing your workflows.

Managing bulk data operations

When you move your support history from an old helpdesk into Gorgias or run a big export of tickets to analyze trends, you are making many requests at once. These tasks are most successful when your script is designed to pace itself, ensuring that every piece of data is imported or exported correctly. This coordinated approach ensures your data stays clean and your platform remains responsive.

Coordinating real-time syncing

Many businesses depend on real-time data to give customers a great experience. You might sync customer info from Gorgias to a CRM or connect it to your inventory system. When a flash sale goes live and ticket volume spikes, your integration works best when it is optimized to match Gorgias's request pacing. This ensures that your agents are always looking at the most reliable order information.

Designing smart automation

Genuinely helpful automation often takes several steps to resolve a single ticket. For example, an AI agent might:

1. Look up order details in Shopify.
2. Check the customer’s ticket history in Gorgias.
3. Add a specific tag.
4. Assign the ticket to the right person.
5. Post a reply.

Each one of those steps uses an API call. By planning your workflows efficiently or using a complementary platform that handles this coordination for you, you can ensure your automations work smoothly every time.

How to work within Gorgias API rate limits

If you're looking to optimize your usage of these limits, there are a few common strategies developers use to manage them effectively.

Monitoring API usage

First things first, you need to know where you stand. The Gorgias API is actually quite helpful here, because it returns information in every response telling you how close you are to the limit. Developers can check the "X-Gorgias-Account-Api-Call-Limit" header to see their current usage and the "Retry-After" header to know when to send the next request. This allows you to build very reliable and robust integrations.

Strategies for optimizing API requests

Most solutions involve making your code a bit more coordinated.

• Implement exponential backoff: This is a professional coding tactic where, if a request needs to be resent, the script waits a moment before retrying. This ensures the system has space to process the next request smoothly.
• Queueing requests: Instead of sending a flood of API calls all at once, you can put them in a queue and have a process work through them at a steady pace, making sure you stay within the 20-second window.
• Using workflow tools: Some platforms like Parabola can help manage data flows between different apps.

While these are effective technical approaches, they do require ongoing developer attention. A complementary AI integration platform, on the other hand, deals with all this coordination for you. This is where a solution like eesel AI becomes incredibly helpful, as it’s designed to work in harmony with Gorgias's API.

Complementary solutions for Gorgias API workflows

It’s helpful to see these parameters as a sign that your automation needs are maturing. Instead of relying solely on custom-coded scripts, you can use a specialized AI layer that works alongside your helpdesk.

How a dedicated AI platform streamlines the process

Instead of managing your own complex set of API calls, you can use a specialized AI platform that integrates directly with Gorgias. This platform becomes an efficient engine for your automation, managing the technical details for you.

• One-click integration: A platform like eesel AI connects to Gorgias in just a few minutes. There's no complex API setup to manage or manual code to write.
• Efficient and optimized actions: eesel AI's AI Agent is built to handle complex workflows efficiently. You can set up a multi-step process like "look up order status, tag as 'Return Request', and assign to the returns team" in a simple, visual editor. Then, eesel AI handles all the API coordination in the background. You get the power of advanced automation with the reliability of a managed system.

• Unify all your knowledge: The best AI doesn't just look at your helpdesk. eesel AI can connect to all of your company knowledge at once, from your help center and past tickets to internal wikis in Confluence or Google Docs. Building a system that pulls from all those sources while managing API request timing manually would be a significant project. With a unified platform, it’s all handled as part of the setup.

Gorgias pricing overview

When you're thinking about your support tools, it's good to understand the range of options available. Here’s a quick look at Gorgias's flexible pricing structure.

Plan	Pricing (Monthly)	Key Features
Starter	$10/month	50 monthly tickets, ideal for very small businesses.
Basic	$60/month	300 monthly tickets, including chat & social integrations.
Pro	$360/month	2,000 monthly tickets, phone support, and revenue statistics.
Advanced	$900/month	5,000 monthly tickets, with a dedicated success manager.
Enterprise	Custom	Custom ticket volume and specialized integrations.

Gorgias offers tiered plans that scale with your ticket volume, providing more advanced integration features as your business grows. You can also look at complementary tools like eesel AI's transparent pricing, which is based on AI interactions, giving you predictable costs that work alongside your Gorgias plan.

Automate smarter with Gorgias

Gorgias API rate limits are a standard part of a high-performance ecosystem, and they certainly don't have to be a roadblock. While manual coordination and custom code can manage these requests, using a dedicated AI automation platform is a sustainable and efficient path forward for a growing brand.

Using a complementary AI platform frees your team from the cycle of managing technical code and allows you to focus on what really matters: designing and delivering a fantastic customer experience.

Ready to start using powerful, hassle-free AI within your Gorgias setup? eesel AI integrates seamlessly with Gorgias to automate your support. Start your free trial today.