Journey throttle node - Courier

Throttle nodes limit how many times a user, or everyone, can pass through a specific point in the journey within a time period. Use them to prevent notification fatigue and enforce rate limits.

Throttle configuration panel with max allowed, period, and scope settings

Configuration

Field	Description
Max allowed	The maximum number of times a recipient can pass through this throttle within the period
Period	The time window for the limit (e.g., 1 hour, 24 hours, 7 days)
Scope	What the limit applies to: per user (keyed by user ID) or global (across all users)

When a run hits a throttled node and the limit is reached, the node is skipped and the run continues to the next node. The message is not queued or delayed. It’s not sent.

Example

Set “max 3 per 24 hours, per user” and the journey can be invoked 10 times that day. Only the first 3 send nodes downstream of the throttle fire.

Global throttle

Set the scope to Global instead of Per user to apply a single limit across all users. Use it to cap the total volume of a notification type, whoever receives it. A global throttle of “max 1000 per hour” on a promotional journey keeps a marketing event from flooding your email provider with thousands of invocations.

Combining with other nodes

Throttle nodes combine with other logic:

Throttle + : Throttle first, then branch on priority. Only messages that pass the throttle are evaluated.
Throttle + : Place the throttle before a delay to prevent too many delayed messages from queuing up.

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