Hard limits
This article focuses on Bubble's hard limits. Hard limits are fixed boundaries that cannot be exceeded, such as the number of minutes a workflow will attempt to finish before it's terminated. Some hard limits can be increased by upgrading to higher pricing plans.
For soft limits (flexible boundaries that can be exceeded in but may impact performance or stability) check out our general article on performance and scaling.
Like all development frameworks and server systems, Bubble comes with its own set of capabilities and limitations. While we are working hard to make a platform that is flexible and versatile enough to reliably handle as wide a range of applications as possible, we also want to be as transparent as we can with our developer community as to what kind of limitations you might experience.
This article will attempt to highlight known limitations and issues that should be taken into consideration when you are evaluating Bubble for your project.
Understanding the system limits
An app reaching Bubble’s hard limits is fairly rare, but as a developer it can still be useful to know about them to be able to recognize and debug them should they occur.
They can aid in the planning and development of your app, but it’s worth nothing that understanding and predicting how they can affect your app can be a bit more complicated. The limits offer insight into the system's absolute limits and can be valid in one-off cases, but they will be less accurate in predicting the app's performance under varying conditions and workloads.
For instance, if a Do a search for times out after a maximum limit of 10 seconds, it does not imply that a search that takes 3 seconds to complete is always "safe" in all situations. For example, a 3-second search that’s happening simultaneously for a million users will still, in aggregate, become very taxing for your app. At that scale, it would be best to redesign the search to complete faster. While hard limits will kick in in rare situations, it’s also important to keep in mind the combination of everything you’ve built your app to do.
Hard limits can clarify why a process has stopped due to reaching a time limit and serve as a reminder that a resource-intensive process will eventually reach its limit. However, this information must be incorporated into an overarching strategy to ensure that the app’s activity remains at sustainable levels that allows your app to scale safely.
Database
Sorted searches
Searches that have a sorting applied (or with the :sorted operator added to the expression) will return a list of maximum 50,000 things.
Text fields
A single text field saved in the database has a hard limit of 10 million characters. Keep in mind that this includes characters like spaces and BBCode/HTML formatting.
Thing size
The total size of data stored in one has a hard limit of 20 MB. This refers to data stored in the thing itself, and not associated data such as files and images.
Deleting references to a thing
Sometimes when you delete a thing in the database, Bubble needs to update other records to reflect that the thing has been deleted. For example, a user might be connected to other records because they are referenced in the Created by field.
This can lead to a seemingly simple operation becoming more complex and resource-demanding. If the number of referenced records exceeds 100,000 records you may start to experience that referenced records are not properly updated, and by 1,000,000 there's a significant chance that the process will lead to unexpected database errors.
Storing a list of things
Storing a list of database things on another thing (such as User's Tasks) has a hard limit of 10,000 records. Note that long lists can start to affect performance at a lower number, depending on how much data the records are holding and what kind of processing you apply. In many cases, using Do a search for instead of storing long lists will be more efficient.
CSV Upload
CSV files uploaded in the Bubble editor or in your app have a hard file size limit of 5GB. However, several major browsers do not reliably allow uploads bigger than 2 GB, making this the practical limit for most users.
File Upload
Files uploaded in the Bubble editor or in your app have a hard file size limit of 5GB. However, several major browsers do not reliably allow uploads bigger than 2 GB, making this the practical limit for most users.
Design and logic
Workflow timeout
Workflows that take more than 300 seconds (5 minutes) will time out. Note that other processes running simultaneously can lead to Bubble throttling your app to maintain stability if your app comes close to maxing out its capacity. This can sometimes lead to workflows timing out because they are slowed down.
Number of elements and events/actions on a page
There's a hard limit of 10,000 combined total of elements, events and actions on a single page.
Length of URL
Bubble doesn't have a maximum URL lengths, but to ensure browser compatibility you should stay within 2,000 characters. We generally recommended keeping URLs as short as possible for usability and SEO purposes.
URL parameters are included in the character count.
Schedule API workflow on a list
The maximum number of workflows that can be scheduled using the Schedule API workflow on a list action is as follows:
| List | Limit |
|---|---|
Unsorted list | 100,000 |
50,000 |
If you attempt more than this, only the number of workflows up to the limit will be scheduled
Enterprise plan
The Enterprise plan doesn't have a hard limit on Schedule API workflow on a list, meaning you can schedule more than the numbers stated above. The actual limit as to how much Bubble can process, and the time it takes to do so, will vary based on the server configuration, general load and the size (in bytes) of the workflow parameters.
Please visit our Support center to get in touch with a member of our Support team if you have questions regarding dedicated server instances.
Database trigger events
If you have more than 20 database triggers that kick off at once, the remaining triggers will be scheduled to protect your app's infrastructure from consuming too much memory.
Integrations
API Connector responses
There's a hard limit of 50 MB for responses to an outgoing API call made with the API Connector or a plugin. Exceeding the limit will generate an error in the logs: "response too large".
Headers in API calls
The headers in API calls can have a maximum total size of 8,000 characters
Keys in API calls
The keys in an API call can have a maximum total size of 20,000 characters.
Bubble API requests
The Data API and Workflow API handle a set number of requests per minute depending on your plan:
Starter: 15 000
Growth: 25 000
Team: 35 000
Legacy plans
Note that if you are on Bubble's , requests are rate-limited by default to 1,000 requests/minute per application, collectively between Live and Development. A rate-limited request will return an HTTP 429 error.
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