How does VarSome's throttling work?

As VarSome usage has been expanding dramatically, we have had to limit the number of queries per user per hour and per day ("throttling") to ensure we can provide fair and consistent service to all users of the platform.

There are different permitted query limits per user type:

• For Health Care Professional (HCP) users, the limit is 30 requests per hour or 100 per day (24h).
• For Researcher or Student users, the limit is 25 requests per hour or 80 per day.
• For Other users, the limit is 10 requests  per hour and 25 per day.

Please note that a "request" is not the same as a VarSome query (searching for a variant).   Any user action that results in visiting a VarSome page is counted as a "request". So, for instance, if you  have searched for one variant and then, in that variant's page, you click a link that takes you to another variant, or to a gene or transcript page, then that will count as two requests even though you only made one search. So, every VarSome page visited counts as a request.

The hourly limit could be described with the following example: Assume you make your first query at 10:30 and then do 25 queries by 11:00, that means that you have reached your hourly limit in half an hour. Thus,  you will be able to do your next search at 11:30. Similarly, for the daily limit, if you have completed your allowed searches within less than 24 hours from the initial query, you will need to wait for the remaining hours that complete a 24-hour period to be able to do a new query again.

You can visit your query history page to view the searches made on a daily basis.