Prometheus Public API Service Limits

This document outlines service limits for query endpoints available through Sysdig Monitor’s Prometheus-compatible API. These limits are in place to ensure consistent performance and availability across all tenants

Service Limits

The following limits apply to Prometheus query endpoints in Sysdig Monitor:

Limit CategoryValueApplies ToNotes
Maximum number of different metrics a query can scan10/query, /query_rangeA query that scans more than this number of different metrics (e.g. using a regex with the name label) will be rejected.
Maximum number of samples returned per time series1500/queryIf the combination of the start, end and step parameters results in more than this number of samples per time series, the query will be rejected.
Number of time series returned for queries not using PromQL aggregations.1000/query, /query_rangeIf a query is not leveraging any PromQL function (e.g. max(), avg_over_time()), the number of returned time series will be limited to this number. A warning message will be returned as a part of the response.
Maximum resulting segments100k/query, /query_rangeFor queries that utilize an aggregation operator (e.g. avg()), the number of segments returned will be capped at this number
Maximum concurrent queries200/query, /query_range, /seriesExcess queries may be queued or rejected.
Maximum rate of samples scanned per minute4 Billion samples per minute/query, /query_rangeQueries after this rate has been exceed will be rejected.
Query timeout2 minutesAll query endpointsA global timeout for all queries.

Best Practices

To ensure stable performance and avoid hitting service limits:

  • Scope queries narrowly using label filters to reduce the number of returned time series.
  • Limit time ranges to avoid querying wide historical windows unless needed.
  • Use appropriate step values to reduce result size when querying large time ranges.