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Docker may impose usage and rate limits for Docker Hub to ensure fair resource consumption and maintain service quality. Understanding your usage helps you manage your and your organization's usage effectively.

Usage#

Usage refers to the amount of data transferred from Docker Hub and the amount of data stored on Docker Hub.

Fair use#

When utilizing the Docker Platform, users should be aware that excessive data transfer, pull rates, or data storage can lead to throttling, or additional charges. To ensure fair resource usage and maintain service quality, we reserve the right to impose restrictions or apply additional charges to accounts exhibiting excessive data and storage consumption.

View Docker Hub usage#

You can download a CSV file of your or your organization's Docker Hub usage. To download the file:

  1. Sign in to Docker Hub.

If you want to download usage for all members of an organization, you must sign in to an account that is an owner for that organization. Otherwise, you can only view your own usage.

  1. In Docker Hub, navigate to the Usage page.
  2. In the drop-down, select whether to download your personal data or data for an organization.
  3. In From and To, select a date range for the data.
  4. Select Send report to email to have Docker email you a link to the data file. Note that email processing time may vary.

The file contains the following comma separated values.

CSV column Definition Usage guidance
datehour The date and hour (yyyy/mm/dd/hh) of the pull that resulted in the data transfer. This helps in identifying peak usage times and patterns.
user_name The Docker ID of the user that pulled the image This lets organization owners track data consumption per user and manage resources effectively.
repository The name of the repository of the image that was pulled. This lets you identify which repositories are most frequently accessed and consume most of the data transfer.
pat_name Name of the personal access token that was used for authentication with Docker CLI. generated tokens are automatically generated by the Docker client when a user signs in. Personal access tokens are usually used to authenticate automated tools (Docker Desktop, CI/CD tools, etc.). This is useful for identifying which automated system issued the pull.
ips The IP address that was used to pull the image. This field is aggregated, so more than one IP address may appear, representing all the IPs used to pull an image within the same date and hour. This helps you understand the origin of the data transfer, which is useful for diagnosing and identifying patterns in automated or manual pulls.
repository_privacy The privacy state of the image repository that was pulled. This can either be public or private. This distinguishes between public and private repositories to identify which data transfer threshold the pull impacts.
tag The tag for the image. The tag is only available if the pull request included a tag. This helps in identifying the image. Tags are often used to identify specific versions or variants of an image.
digest The unique image digest for the image. This helps in identifying the image.
version_checks The number of version checks accumulated for the date and hour of each image repository. Depending on the client, a pull request can do a version check to verify the existence of an image or tag without downloading it. This helps identify the frequency of version checks, which you can use to analyze usage trends and potential unexpected behaviors.
pulls The number of pulls accumulated for the date and hour of each image repository. This helps identify the frequency of repository pulls, which you can use to analyze usage trends and potential unexpected behaviors.

Optimize and manage Docker Hub usage#

Use the following steps to help optimize and manage your Docker Hub usage for both individuals and organizations.

  1. View your Docker Hub usage.

  2. Use the Docker Hub usage data to identify which accounts consume the most data, determine peak usage times, and identify which images are related to the most data usage. In addition, look for usage trends, such as the following:

  3. Inefficient pull behavior: Identify frequently accessed repositories to assess whether you can optimize caching practices or consolidate usage to reduce pulls.

  4. Inefficient automated systems: Check which automated tools, such as CI/CD pipelines, may be causing higher pull rates, and configure them to avoid unnecessary image pulls.

  5. Optimize image pulls by doing the following:

  6. Use caching: Implement local image caching via mirroring or within your CI/CD pipelines to reduce redundant pulls.

  7. Automate manual workflows: Avoid unnecessary pulls by configuring automated systems to pull only when a new version of an image is available.

  8. Optimize the size of repositories by regularly auditing and removing untagged, unused, or outdated images.

  9. Increase your limits by upgrading or purchasing add-ons. For details, see Docker pricing.

  10. For organizations, monitor and enforce organizational policies by doing the following:

  11. Routinely view Docker Hub usage to monitor usage.

  12. Enforce sign-in to ensure that you can monitor the usage of your users and users receive higher usage limits.

Rate limit#

A user's rate limit is equal to the highest entitlement of their personal account or any organization they belong to. To take advantage of this, you must sign in to Docker Hub as an authenticated user. For more information, see How do I authenticate pull requests. Unauthenticated (anonymous) users will have the limits enforced via IP.

  • Pulls are accounted to the user doing the pull, not to the owner of the image.
  • A pull request is defined as up to two GET requests on registry manifest URLs (/v2/*/manifests/*).
  • A normal image pull makes a single manifest request.
  • A pull request for a multi-arch image makes two manifest requests.
  • HEAD requests aren't counted.
  • Some images are unlimited through the Docker Sponsored Open Source and Docker Verified Publisher programs.

[!IMPORTANT]

Docker is introducing enhanced subscription plans. Our new plans are packed with more features, higher usage limits, and simplified pricing. The new subscription plans take effect at your next renewal date that occurs on or after November 1, 2024. No charges on Docker Hub image pulls or storage will be incurred between November 15, 2024, and January 31, 2025. See Announcing Upgraded Docker Plans for more details and learn how your usage fits into these updates.

Note that when these changes take effect, the following new definition of a pull request and limits will take effect:

  • A Docker pull request includes both a version check and any download that occurs as a result of the pull. Depending on the client, a docker pull can verify the existence of an image or tag without downloading it by performing a version check.
  • A pull request for a normal image makes one pull for a single manifest.
  • A pull request for a multi-arch image will count as one pull for each different architecture.
  • Pulls are accounted to the user doing the pull, not to the owner of the image.

There will be no image pull rate limit for users or automated systems with a paid subscription. Anonymous and Docker Personal users using Docker Hub will experience rate limits on image pull requests. For authenticated users, there will be a 40 pull/hour rate limit per user; for unauthenticated usage, there will be a 10 pull/hour rate limit per IP address.

What's the download rate limit on Docker Hub?#

Docker Hub limits the number of Docker image downloads, or pulls, based on the account type of the user pulling the image. Pull rate limits are based on individual IP address.

User type Rate limit
Anonymous users 100 pulls per 6 hours per IP address
Authenticated users 200 pulls per 6 hour period
Users with a paid Docker subscription Up to 5000 pulls per day

If you require a higher number of pulls, you can also buy an Enhanced Service Account add-on.

How do I know my pull requests are being limited?#

When you issue a pull request and you are over the limit, Docker Hub returns a 429 response code with the following body when the manifest is requested:

You have reached your pull rate limit. You may increase the limit by authenticating and upgrading: https://www.docker.com/increase-rate-limits

This error message appears in the Docker CLI or in the Docker Engine logs.

How can I check my current rate?#

Valid API requests to Hub usually include the following rate limit headers in the response:

ratelimit-limit
ratelimit-remaining
docker-ratelimit-source

These headers are returned on both GET and HEAD requests.

Note

Using GET emulates a real pull and counts towards the limit. Using HEAD won't. To check your limits, you need curl, grep, and jq installed.

To get a token anonymously, if you are pulling anonymously:

$ TOKEN=$(curl "https://auth.docker.io/token?service=registry.docker.io&scope=repository:ratelimitpreview/test:pull" | jq -r .token)

To get a token with a user account, if you are authenticated (insert your username and password in the following command):

$ TOKEN=$(curl --user 'username:password' "https://auth.docker.io/token?service=registry.docker.io&scope=repository:ratelimitpreview/test:pull" | jq -r .token)

Then to get the headers showing your limits, run the following:

$ curl --head -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/ratelimitpreview/test/manifests/latest

Which should return the following headers:

ratelimit-limit: 100;w=21600
ratelimit-remaining: 76;w=21600
docker-ratelimit-source: 192.0.2.1

In the previous example, the pull limit is 100 pulls per 21600 seconds (6 hours), and there are 76 pulls remaining.

I don't see any RateLimit headers#

If you don't see any RateLimit header, it could be because the image or your IP is unlimited in partnership with a publisher, provider, or an open source organization. It could also mean that the user you are pulling as is part of a paid Docker plan. Pulling that image won’t count toward pull limits if you don’t see these headers. However, users with a paid Docker subscription pulling more than 5000 times daily require a Service Account subscription.

I'm being limited to a lower rate even though I have a paid Docker subscription#

To take advantage of the higher limits included in a paid Docker subscription, you must authenticate pulls with your user account.

A Pro, Team, or a Business tier doesn't increase limits on your images for other users. See Docker's Open Source, Publisher, or Large Organization offerings.

Other limits#

Docker Hub also has an overall rate limit to protect the application and infrastructure. This limit applies to all requests to Hub properties including web pages, APIs, and image pulls. The limit is applied per-IP, and while the limit changes over time depending on load and other factors, it's in the order of thousands of requests per minute. The overall rate limit applies to all users equally regardless of account level.

You can differentiate between these limits by looking at the error code. The "overall limit" returns a simple 429 Too Many Requests response. The pull limit returns a longer error message that includes a link to this page.

How do I authenticate pull requests?#

The following section contains information on how to sign in to Docker Hub to authenticate pull requests.

Docker Desktop#

If you are using Docker Desktop, you can sign in to Docker Hub from the Docker Desktop menu.

Select Sign in / Create Docker ID from the Docker Desktop menu and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the sign-in process.

Docker Engine#

If you're using a standalone version of Docker Engine, run the docker login command from a terminal to authenticate with Docker Hub. For information on how to use the command, see docker login.

Docker Swarm#

If you're running Docker Swarm, you must use the --with-registry-auth flag to authenticate with Docker Hub. For more information, see Create a service. If you are using a Docker Compose file to deploy an application stack, see docker stack deploy.

GitHub Actions#

If you're using GitHub Actions to build and push Docker images to Docker Hub, see login action. If you are using another Action, you must add your username and access token in a similar way for authentication.

Kubernetes#

If you're running Kubernetes, follow the instructions in Pull an Image from a Private Registry for information on authentication.

Third-party platforms#

If you're using any third-party platforms, follow your provider’s instructions on using registry authentication.