Important Update: Upcoming Changes to Our API Free Tier

To our valued developer community,

We're writing to share an important update about an upcoming change to our API's free tier. We believe in transparency and want to give you plenty of advance notice to ensure a smooth transition for everyone.

TL;DR: What You Need to Know #

• What is changing? We are adjusting the maximum number of items that can be requested in a single API call for our /cards endpoint. For free tier users, the limit parameter will have a maximum value of 20.
• Who does this affect? This change only affects users on the free tier who are making requests with a limit parameter greater than 20. Requests with a limit of 20 or less, including default requests, will be unaffected.
• When will this happen? The new limit will take effect on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
• Action Required: Please review any code that interacts with our /cards endpoint to ensure your limit parameter is set to 20 or less if you are using a free API key.

The Details: A Closer Look at the Change #

Currently, our /cards endpoint allows users to specify how many cards to return using the limit parameter.

Starting on July 1, 2025, any request from a free tier user with a limit greater than 20 will be rejected. For example, the following API call will no longer be successful for free users:

❌https://api.justtcg.com/v1/cards?limit=50❌

Instead of processing the request, the API will return a 403 FORBIDDEN error with a clear message indicating the cause.

Why We're Making This Change #

Our free tier is incredibly important to us. It allows students, hobbyists, and developers to experiment, build amazing projects, and get to know our service. To ensure the long-term health, performance, and stability of the API for everyone, we need to ensure resources are allocated sustainably.

By introducing this new limit on the free tier, we can:

1. Guarantee High Performance: Reduce the load from very large, resource-intensive requests, ensuring the API remains fast and reliable for all users.
2. Ensure Fair Resource Allocation: Provide a consistent and generous baseline for free usage while dedicating more resources to our paid users who rely on the API for larger-scale applications.
3. Continue to Invest: This change helps us build a sustainable business model, allowing us to continue maintaining, improving, and adding new features to the platform for years to come.

How to Prepare: What Developers Should Do #

We strongly recommend that all free tier users check their applications before July 1, 2025. If you have hardcoded a limit value greater than 20, please adjust it to be within the new limit.

If you send a request that exceeds the new limit after the change is implemented, your application will receive the following error response, allowing you to handle the issue programmatically:

{
  "error": "The requested 'limit' parameter exceeds the maximum of 20 for your current plan.",
  "code": "MAX_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "details": {
    "maxLimit": 20
  }
}

Need a Higher Limit? #

We understand that some applications require fetching more data in a single call. If your project's needs have outgrown the free tier, our paid plans will continue to support a maximum limit of up to 100 and provide access to other premium features.

You can learn more about our plans on our pricing

Our Commitment #

We are deeply committed to our developer community. This was a carefully considered decision designed to balance the needs of all our users and ensure a strong future for the service. The free tier will always be a core part of our offering, and we will continue to support the incredible projects you build with it.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our journey. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to support.