# Amazon SES: Throttling — Maximum sending rate exceeded (454 Throttling failure)

**Code:** `SES: Maximum sending rate exceeded` · **Category:** Email / SMTP · **Seen on:** SMTP, AWS

You are sending faster than your Amazon SES account's per-second limit, so SES throttles the requests.

## Meaning

SES enforces a maximum send rate (messages per second) and a 24-hour quota that depend on your account's sending limits. Slow your sender, add a rate limiter with retries and exponential backoff, or request a limit increase. New accounts start in the sandbox with very low limits.

## Common causes

- Loop sending without delay
- Parallel workers exceeding the per-second rate
- Account still in sandbox with low limits
- 24-hour quota exhausted
- Burst after a queue backlog

## Quick fix

1. Add a rate limiter at or below `MaxSendRate`
2. Retry with exponential backoff on `Throttling` / 454
3. Request a sending-limit increase or move out of the sandbox

## Detailed fix by platform

### AWS CLI

1. `aws sesv2 get-account --query '{Sandbox:ProductionAccessEnabled,Limits:SendQuota}'` shows the max send rate and 24-hour quota

## How to diagnose

1. **Rate** — Send rate vs MaxSendRate?
2. **Quota** — 24-hour usage?
3. **Mode** — Sandbox or production?

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Source: [WhatIsMyError](https://whatismyerror.com/errors/email/ses-maximum-sending-rate-exceeded)