How to Set Up Nginx Rate Limiting

Rate limiting protects your server from abuse and brute-force attacks.

Configure

In /etc/nginx/nginx.conf (http block):

# Define rate limit zone\nlimit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;

In your server block:

location /api/ {\n    limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;\n    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;\n}

Parameters

• rate=10r/s — 10 requests per second per IP
• burst=20 — allow bursts of up to 20 requests
• nodelay — process burst requests immediately

Custom Error Page

limit_req_status 429;\nerror_page 429 /429.html;