How does Azure Service Bus "Operations per second" Limit works?

Question

How does Azure Service Bus "Operations per second" Limit works?

Marvin Wiesner 0

The Docs at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-bus-messaging/service-bus-quotas explains the different Limits/Quotas.

The Quota "Operations per second" does not state which entity (e.g. Namespace, Queue) this Quota applies to.

I need to understand: When I have 2 Queues in the same Namespace, will I get 1000 requests/second per queue or 1000 for both queues shared.

Asking Learn AI did not solve the Problem:
The “Operations per second” limit in Azure Service Bus messaging is an important factor for managing messaging throughput. For the Basic and Standard tiers, this limit is set at 1,000 operations per second, meaning that the system can handle a maximum of 1,000 operations within a single second. This limit is crucial for applications that require consistent and reliable messaging performance. However, the documentation does not specify whether this limit is applied per Azure subscription, per namespace, per queue, or per receiver, leaving some ambiguity regarding its application. [...]

Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-25T14:02:08.97+00:00

Hi Marvin Wiesner,

Thanks for your follow-up.

To answer your question clearly: The “1,000 operations per second” limit in Azure Service Bus (for Basic and Standard tiers) applies at the namespace level, not per queue or topic. So if you have multiple queues or topics under the same namespace, they all share this 1,000 ops/sec limit. It’s not 1,000 per queue — the total combined operations across all entities in that namespace must stay within the 1,000 limit.

This behavior is based on the shared infrastructure model of the Basic and Standard tiers, where Microsoft enforces limits to ensure fair usage across tenants. If your workloads require higher throughput, you can either move to the Premium tier — which uses dedicated resources and scales based on the number of messaging units you provision — or distribute the load across multiple namespaces, each with its own 1,000 ops/sec limit.

I hope this clarifies . Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-26T14:33:22.67+00:00

Hello Marvin Wiesner,

I hope you had a chance to review the response above. If there are any updates or if you need further assistance, please feel free to update here.
Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-27T13:19:55.9333333+00:00

Hello Marvin Wiesner,

Following up to see if you had a chance to review the response above. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

1 answer

Your answer

Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-25T14:02:08.97+00:00

Hi Marvin Wiesner,

Thanks for your follow-up.

To answer your question clearly: The “1,000 operations per second” limit in Azure Service Bus (for Basic and Standard tiers) applies at the namespace level, not per queue or topic. So if you have multiple queues or topics under the same namespace, they all share this 1,000 ops/sec limit. It’s not 1,000 per queue — the total combined operations across all entities in that namespace must stay within the 1,000 limit.

This behavior is based on the shared infrastructure model of the Basic and Standard tiers, where Microsoft enforces limits to ensure fair usage across tenants. If your workloads require higher throughput, you can either move to the Premium tier — which uses dedicated resources and scales based on the number of messaging units you provision — or distribute the load across multiple namespaces, each with its own 1,000 ops/sec limit.

I hope this clarifies . Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-26T14:33:22.67+00:00

Hello Marvin Wiesner,

I hope you had a chance to review the response above. If there are any updates or if you need further assistance, please feel free to update here.
Shireesha Eeraboina 3,435 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-27T13:19:55.9333333+00:00

Hello Marvin Wiesner,

Following up to see if you had a chance to review the response above. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Answer 1

Stanislav Zhelyazkov 28,186 MVP Volunteer Moderator

Hi,

Most likely the limitation is per service bus rather and not per queue or topic. Basic and Standard tiers are shared tiers. Meaning that they are deployed to infrastructure that is shared with other tenants which means certain limits (like operations per second) are applied to avoid significant impact on other tenants on the same infrastructure. Premium on the other hand gives you dedicated infrastructure thus why it does not have that limit. The limit there depends on the size (messaging units). Also if the limit was per queue or topic would be explicitly mentioned. Additionally if it was per queue or topic that would be very easy way to avoid paying for Premium SKU.

Please "Accept the answer" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

Marvin Wiesner 0 Reputation points

2025-06-24T15:42:22.6866667+00:00

Thank you for your response, sadly I can not plan my architecture with "most likely". I need a reliable answer and be certain about the limits

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How does Azure Service Bus "Operations per second" Limit works?

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