# 42913: Per-channel publish rate exceeded

Identifier: `rate_limit_exceeded_per_channel_inbound`



A message was rejected because the rate of messages published to the channel exceeded its configured limit. The limit applies to all publishers to the channel combined, so it can be reached even when no single publisher is publishing quickly.

## What you should do

If the message matters, republish it after a short delay, increasing the delay if it is rejected again.

To keep within the limit, consider [spreading publishing across more channels](https://faqs.ably.com/how-do-i-avoid-hitting-the-max-channel-message-rate-limit), so traffic is divided between them rather than concentrated on one. If a channel genuinely needs a higher rate, you can [request a higher limit](https://ably.com/docs/general/limits.md).

## Why it happens

Each channel has a maximum rate at which messages can be published to it, set by your account's limits. This error means messages were published to the channel faster than that limit allows.

The limit is shared across the whole channel: every message published to it, from any source, counts against one budget. So a channel can exceed its limit even when no individual publisher is publishing quickly, if enough of them publish at once.

## What you'll see

The publish is rejected and the message is not delivered. The channel stays attached, and publishing to other channels is unaffected. The error is reported with code 42913 and HTTP status 429, with a message of the form `Rate limit exceeded; request rejected (nonfatal); metric = channel.maxRate; ...`.