Searches around Path of Exile and proxies include its API and rate limits, VPNs and gateways. Google autocomplete shows "path of exile api", "poe trade api rate limit" and "poe rate limit exceeded", next to "path of exile vpn" and "path of exile gateway". This page answers from the Grinding Gear Games (GGG) developer docs, its terms of use and privacy policy, robots.txt and an official forum thread. We read them on 28 September 2026. The short answer: the API limits requests by IP, account and client, and GGG says to follow the limits it sends. New API applications are closed for now. The terms bar bots and data extraction tools, and let GGG block the IP addresses of users who breach them.
How the API rate limit works
GGG uses rate limits "on the majority of our endpoints". It warns that they "are dynamic and can change at any time". The responses carry the rules in headers:
X-Rate-Limit-Policynames the policy that applies to the request.X-Rate-Limit-Ruleslists the rules. "Common rules are: ip, account, and client."- Each rule gets three numbers: the maximum hits, the period tested in seconds, and the time restricted if the rule is broken. A matching state header gives the current count.
- After a 429,
Retry-Aftergives the "Time to wait (in seconds) until the rate limit expires".
The docs say these headers "should be parsed and followed by your application". The section ends with a warning: "Exceeding these limits frequently will result in your application access being revoked."
Why more addresses do not help
The docs go further than the 429. Applications "(and users)" that make too many invalid requests in a short time "will be restricted from further access to our service". A 429 counts as an invalid request. So a tool that meets the limit is asked to slow down.
The other two rules follow the account and the app, not the address. Almost all of the developer APIs "require authorization of an existing Path of Exile account", and GGG says this helps it "enforce fair rate-limits". A confidential client runs on a secure server of the app owner, and such clients "Usually have individual rate-limits per client". Desktop apps that use the API must use public clients, which "Have shared rate-limits between all other public clients".
Getting access to the API
The docs put it plainly: "We are currently unable to process new applications." Apps that already exist work under these rules:
- Only the resources in the API Reference or the Data Exports are supported. Reverse-engineering any other endpoint is against section 7i of the terms.
- Every app must send an identifiable User-Agent that starts with OAuth, its client id and version, and a contact.
- The Public Stash API needs the service:psapi scope, which only a confidential client can use. It streams all public stashes in all leagues, with "a 5-minute delay on results".
- Currency Exchange returns hourly digests of trade history. At the end of the stream, the docs say to wait "until the next hourly boundary".
- Apps that interact with the game or its files break sections 7b, 7c and 7i of the terms. Their use "will result in immediate account termination".
The trade site
Players meet the same limits on the trade site. In a forum thread from February 2021, a player could not run a trade search for over 15 minutes. GGG support replied: "If you are using a VPN, could you please disable it to see if this resolves the issue at all?" It also asked the player to turn off any third-party Path of Exile tools.
Another player then posted what they called "the current limits for requests made via the API based on IP". For trade searches, that was 5 in 12 seconds, 15 in 62 seconds and 30 in 302 seconds. These numbers come from a player in 2021, and the docs say the limits change.
The robots.txt for pathofexile.com asks all crawlers to stay out of /api/ and /search/, and sets a crawl delay of 10 for Bingbot.
What the terms say
The terms of use carry no date of their own. The privacy policy on the same page was last updated in October 2024. Without prior written approval from GGG, you may not:
- "Utilise any automated software or 'bots'" with the website, materials or services;
- "Connect to the Servers through any software other than the authorised game client software";
- "Use any data gathering and extraction tools or software to extract information from the Website";
- reverse engineer the website, materials or services.
You may not let a third party into your account without written consent from GGG, or transfer the account. GGG may cancel or restrict an account "for any other reason whatsoever". It "may also, where it believes such action is necessary, without notice block IP addresses of any users who have breached the Terms of Use".
The terms and the privacy policy never mention VPNs or proxies. The privacy policy uses IP addresses to "determine your country of origin, security and anti-cheat functions". If you use the game or the website from outside New Zealand, you are "entirely responsible" for making sure your use breaks no law in your country.
Searches this page does not answer
Autocomplete asks whether the gateway matters and which gateway is best. The official pages we read do not mention gateways. The community wiki page on them stopped our server with a bot check, so this page does not answer those searches.
"poe proxy" also brings suggestions that are not about the game, such as "poe bluetooth proxy home assistant" and "poe ai proxy url". Autocomplete suggests "path of exile profane proxy" as well, and the wiki page for it stopped our server too. The word also appears in the GGG API reference, as a passive tree field: "the proxy node identifier" in the cluster jewel information.
If you use proxies for other work
Nothing on this page routes Path of Exile traffic through a proxy. We cover Steam and Riot Games on their own pages. For the basics, see what a residential proxy is, what an ISP proxy is and whether free proxies are safe. Our free proxy list and proxy checker cost nothing. Our residential, ISP and mobile proxies are on the pricing page. Residential traffic starts at $0.44/GB, and a static ISP address costs $2.70/IP.
The limits of this page
We did not play Path of Exile, register an API app, or test a proxy or VPN against the game. New applications are closed, so we could not see the limits an app gets today. The trade limits above come from a player in February 2021. The community wiki, where we looked for gateways and the Public Stash API, stopped our server with a bot check. The Internet Archive answered 429 when we asked for its copies. The Path of Exile 2 website loads by script. This page is due for a check by 28 December 2026.
Sources
We read every source below on 28 September 2026.
- Grinding Gear Games, Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, the privacy policy last updated in October 2024.
- Grinding Gear Games, Developer Docs: the overview, errors and rate limits, the Authorization section and the API Reference.
- Grinding Gear Games, robots.txt for pathofexile.com.
- Path of Exile forum, API rate limit for trade searches, February 2021.
- Google autocomplete, read on 28 September 2026.
