Rate limiting
Rate limiting bounds how much any single visitor can consume. With usage-based AI, that is a spending control.
Why it matters
A widget key is public by necessity. Without a per-client bound, one script can generate unlimited requests, and because each one costs money the consequence is financial rather than merely operational.
- No bound on messages from a single visitor
- A public key with no restriction on use
- Costs discovered on an invoice rather than at the time
How it works here
A limit on messages per visitor within a window. Set well above a normal conversation, it is invisible to real customers — genuine support exchanges are short — while bounding anything automated.
One control of three
Rate limiting bounds a single client. Domain locks bound which origins may use the key at all. The daily reply cap bounds the whole day. Each catches something the others miss, which is why all three are set rather than one.
Common questions
- Will rate limiting affect real customers?
- Not at a sensible threshold. Real support conversations are a handful of messages; a limit comfortably above that bounds abuse without a customer ever encountering it.
- Is rate limiting enough on its own?
- No. It bounds one visitor but not many, which is why the domain lock and the daily cap exist alongside it.
From the blog
All posts- MeasuringDeflection rate is the most overstated number in support automationCounting bot conversations as deflected tickets overstates the result. The honest version is a before-and-after on ticket volume, read next to satisfaction.Read
- MeasuringContainment rate, explained without the sales deckContainment rate without the spin: what it counts, how it differs from resolution and deflection, and when a high number is a warning.Read
- EvaluatingWhy answer rate is a vendor metric, not a buyer metricAnswer rate is trivially improved by being less careful. Here is what the number actually measures — and what to read instead when you evaluate vendors.Read
Answer honestly. Capture the rest.
Point Matter Chat at your site and see what it can — and can't — answer. It's honest about both.
No credit card. 2 minute setup.
Every answer cites the source it came from. When there isn't one, it says so — and hands the visitor to you.
Installs on the tools you already run.