Rate Limiting Algorithms, Visualized
Rate limiters decide when to say no, and the algorithm behind the decision changes what bursts look like and how much memory the limiter needs. This video animates a token bucket refilling, a leaky bucket draining, and a sliding window advancing, then shows which algorithms real gateways run.
Topics covered:
- Token bucket: refill rate, capacity, and burst behavior
- Leaky bucket: the fixed-rate outflow queue
- Fixed window: cheap but bursty at the boundary
- Sliding window log vs counter: precision vs memory
- Distributed limits: Redis counters and atomicity
- What nginx, Kong, and Envoy actually use
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