SharePoint API Limits

When migrating data into, out of, or within SharePoint Online, Microsoft enforces strict throttling limits to ensure fair usage across tenants. These limits scale depending on how many licenses you have.

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What Are Resource Units?

Resource Units (RUs) are how Microsoft measures the cost of API operations. Each action your migration tool performs consumes a specific number of RUs.

Resource Unit Costs for Movebot Migrations

Operation	Resource Units (per file or folder)
Scan Directory (Excluding Permissions and Version History)	2
Create Folder (Non-Delta)	2
File Upload	2
File Download	1

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Daily Tenant-Level Limits

These limits apply daily across the entire tenant, regardless of how many apps are in use.

Tenant License Count	Daily Limit
0 – 1,000	5,400,000
1,001 – 5,000	10,800,000
5,001 – 15,000	16,200,000
15,001 – 50,000	21,600,000
50,000+	27,000,000

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Daily Application-Level Limits (Per App, Per Tenant)

These limits apply daily per app registration, and per tenant.

Tenant License Count	Daily Limit
0 – 1,000	1,200,000
1,001 – 5,000	2,400,000
5,001 – 15,000	3,600,000
15,001 – 50,000	4,800,000
50,000+	6,000,000

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See the page SharePoint Performance Expectations to see how these limits can affect migration performance.