# Throttling and pacing

> Throttling (or pacing) is the deliberate limiting of a campaign's send rate, in messages per minute or spread over hours, so that replies, calls and clicks arrive at a pace the receiving side can absorb.

Sending as fast as possible is rarely the goal. A promotion that produces a two percent reply rate at 400 messages a minute generates eight conversations a minute; a link that sends a thousand people a second to one landing page tests the server more than the offer. Pacing spreads the send and, combined with local windows, keeps it inside acceptable hours.

Pacing also protects routes: a sudden spike on a new destination looks like spam to operators.

At SMSMeteor: a campaign or a batch takes `pace.per_minute` or `pace.over_hours`; pause and resume are instant.

Related terms: [Throughput (TPS)](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/throughput), [Quiet hours](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/quiet-hours), [Bulk SMS](https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/bulk-sms)

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Source: https://smsmeteor.com/glossary/throttling (HTML). Generated by SMSMeteor from the same data as the page. Summary of the whole site: https://smsmeteor.com/llms.txt