Throttling vs. rate limiting: Backoff strategies for workflows

This article distinguishes rate limiting, where excess requests are rejected (often with a 429 error), from throttling, where requests are delayed or queued, and explains how rate-limit algorithms such as fixed vs. sliding windows and token vs. leaky buckets affect how workflows should pace calls. It covers using the Retry-After header, exponential backoff with a maximum delay and retry limit, adding jitter to prevent synchronized retry spikes, and checking idempotency before retrying requests with side effects. It then describes how n8n handles these patterns through batching and wait nodes, Retry On Fail with Wait Between Tries, concurrency controls, and Error Trigger workflows for persistent 429s.