How to Fix “Quota Exceeded” Errors in BigQuery

How do I resolve BigQuery “quota exceeded” errors?

“Quota exceeded” appears when a query or job surpasses BigQuery’s daily or per-job limits on bytes, slots, or concurrent operations.

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Description

Example H2

Example H3

Why does BigQuery say “quota exceeded”?

BigQuery enforces limits on bytes processed per day, slots used, concurrent queries, API requests, and metadata operations. When a query, load job, or export job tries to consume more than your project’s allocated quota, the service immediately stops the job and returns a quota-exceeded error.

How can I check my remaining quota?

Use INFORMATION_SCHEMA.JOBS_BY_PROJECT to view total_bytes_processed and compare it with your daily quota. The Cloud Console’s "Quotas" page shows real-time usage for slots, requests, and storage.

How do I limit bytes processed in a query?

Add the OPTIONS(maximum_bytes_billed=...) clause or set --maximum_bytes_billed in the bq CLI. BigQuery cancels the query if it would process more than the specified number of bytes, protecting you from accidental overages.

How can partitioning and clustering help?

Partition tables on DATE(created_at) or customer_id and cluster on frequently filtered columns such as product_id. Partition pruning and clustering reduce the scanned bytes, lowering the chance you will hit the bytes-processed quota.

Example: bytes-capped customer revenue query

The query in the next section limits scanning to 1 GB and filters by a 7-day date range, keeping usage well within free-tier quotas for small projects.

What if I hit concurrent job limits?

Batch non-urgent work with priority=BATCH or use reservation assignments to dedicate slots to critical workloads. You can also apply exponential backoff and retry logic in your application when you receive rateLimitExceeded or backendError codes.

Can I request higher quotas?

Yes. In the Google Cloud Console go to IAM & Admin → Quotas, filter for BigQuery, select the quota you need raised (e.g., “Query usage per day”), and submit a limit-increase request. Google usually responds within 24 hours.

Best practices to avoid quota errors

Estimate costs with EXPLAIN or the query validator before running large jobs, use sample tables for development, schedule heavy ETL at off-peak hours, and share slot reservations across teams to balance demand.

Why How to Fix “Quota Exceeded” Errors in BigQuery is important

How to Fix “Quota Exceeded” Errors in BigQuery Example Usage


-- Show top 5 customers by spend in the last week, capped at 1 GB
SELECT
  c.id,
  c.name,
  SUM(oi.quantity * p.price) AS total_spend
FROM `shop.Customers` AS c
JOIN `shop.Orders` AS o ON o.customer_id = c.id
JOIN `shop.OrderItems` AS oi ON oi.order_id = o.id
JOIN `shop.Products` AS p ON p.id = oi.product_id
WHERE o.order_date BETWEEN DATE_SUB(CURRENT_DATE(), INTERVAL 7 DAY) AND CURRENT_DATE()
GROUP BY c.id, c.name
ORDER BY total_spend DESC
LIMIT 5
OPTIONS(maximum_bytes_billed = 1000000000);

How to Fix “Quota Exceeded” Errors in BigQuery Syntax


-- Syntax 1: Cap bytes scanned inside SQL
SELECT
    c.id,
    c.name,
    SUM(oi.quantity * p.price) AS customer_spend
FROM `shop.Customers` AS c
JOIN `shop.Orders` AS o ON o.customer_id = c.id
JOIN `shop.OrderItems` AS oi ON oi.order_id = o.id
JOIN `shop.Products` AS p ON p.id = oi.product_id
WHERE o.order_date BETWEEN DATE_SUB(CURRENT_DATE(), INTERVAL 7 DAY) AND CURRENT_DATE()
OPTIONS(maximum_bytes_billed = 1000000000); -- 1 GB

-- Syntax 2: Same limit with bq CLI
bq query \
  --use_legacy_sql=false \
  --maximum_bytes_billed=1000000000 \
  'SELECT ...'

-- Syntax 3: Batch priority to ease concurrent-slot quota
bq query --priority=BATCH 'SELECT ...';

Common Mistakes

Running development queries on full tables instead of partitions. This unnecessarily scans terabytes and hits the daily bytes quota. Always filter by partition keys or sample data during dev.
Ignoring <code>maximum_bytes_billed</code>. Without a cap, ad-hoc queries can unintentionally scan more data than allowed. Set the option in every exploratory query to avoid surprises.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I see how many bytes my query will scan?

Use the BigQuery web UI or EXPLAIN. The validator shows the estimated bytes processed before you run the query.

Is the 1 TB free tier affected by quotas?

Yes. The 1 TB monthly free tier counts toward your project’s daily bytes quota. Once either limit is exceeded, you pay on-demand rates or get an error if billing is disabled.

Can slot reservations eliminate quota errors?

Slot reservations remove on-demand slot limits but not bytes-processed or API-request quotas. They help with concurrency issues but you must still manage data scanned.