I'm working on a web application that makes frequent API calls to a third-party service, and I'm starting to hit rate limits during peak usage times.

Current Situation:

• ~500 requests per minute during busy periods
• Getting 429 errors about 10-15% of the time
• Using a simple retry mechanism with exponential backoff

What I've Tried:

• Implemented basic caching for repeated requests
• Added request queuing with delays
• Set up monitoring for rate limit headers

The retry logic helps, but I'm wondering if there are better architectural patterns I should consider. Has anyone dealt with similar issues at scale?

Any suggestions for:

1. More sophisticated rate limiting strategies?
2. Better caching approaches?
3. Monitoring tools you'd recommend?

Thanks in advance for any insights!