How to Increase an Exceeded YouTube API Daily Quota Limit

Embedding a YouTube playlist or channel gallery and (smart) YouTube livestream generally requires a YouTube API key. The default quota given by Google/YouTube, however, might not be enough for some applications. As of this writing (March 2020), the quota is 10000 requests per day. If you have a high traffic site, that limit might be too small. If so, we suggest that you try things like reducing your gallery's page size or using the plugin's caching feature. After that, your traffic might be so high that you still get the "Youtube Data API quota exceeded" error message. For that, you'll need to request that Google/YouTube give you a higher daily limit.

Here are the simple steps:

  1. Make sure that you've created a YouTube API key.
  2. Log into the Google account associated with the key and retrieve the Project ID and Number that's associated with the key using this link: https://console.cloud.google.com/ Once you see a screen like below, you'll find the values in the top area: increase quota
  3. Now assuming that you have a valid reason for the quota increase request, go here to fill out the application: https://support.google.com/youtube/contact/yt_api_form?hl=en There are several questions on the form. One asks which API services your client will access. For this, select "Data API" and "Embeds" as our plugin does not use any other of the others listed.

If you're interested in other optimizations outside what the API key uses, you should try activating the lazy loading feature, and turning on the (load-on-click) popup player for galleries to speed up page load.