Rate Limiting is a technique used in computer networks and application development to control the rate at which users or systems can make requests to a service. Its primary purpose is to protect systems from being overwhelmed by too many requests in a short period, which can lead to performance degradation, service outages, or even denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Rate limiting works by setting a maximum number of requests that can be made in a specific time frame. For example, an API might be rate-limited to 100 requests per minute per user. When a user exceeds this limit, the system will either delay the request, return an error, or block further requests until the rate limit resets.

This is particularly important in APIs, web services, and networking, where unchecked traffic can cause bottlenecks or downtime. Rate limiting ensures fair usage among users, improves service reliability, and safeguards against malicious activities such as API abuse or brute-force attacks.