# Usage plans

A usage plan specifies who can access one or more stages and methods of the deployed API, and how many concurrency customers can access it. The usage plan uses API keys to identify API clients and calculates the access to the associated API stages for each key. It also allows you to configure usage and quota limits to individual customer API keys.

When creating a new usage plan, you must provide the information below:

* Plan name - must be unique in the environment
* Description
* Requisition limit settings
* Quota limit settings

Request throttling is a request rate limit applied to each API key you add to your usage plan. You can also set a default method-level usage limitation for an API or set boundaries for specific API methods.

When specifying the plan usage limit, it is necessary to define the number of requests per second and the maximum capacity of the backend.

The quota limit is the maximum number of requests with a given API key that can send in a specified time interval. You can configure individual API methods to require API key authorization based on your usage plan configuration.

When specifying the quota limit, it is necessary to define the number of requests and the period in which it applies (daily, weekly or monthly)

### Assigning API keys to usage plans <a href="#assigning-api-keys-to-usage-plans" id="assigning-api-keys-to-usage-plans"></a>

Once created, a new `API Keys` tab is enabled, where you can enable or disable API keys in the usage plan.
