diff --git a/api/src/exceptions/hit-rate-limit.ts b/api/src/exceptions/hit-rate-limit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a7a51f897
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/exceptions/hit-rate-limit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import { BaseException } from './base';
+
+export class HitRateLimitException extends BaseException {
+	constructor(message: string) {
+		super(message, 429, 'REQUESTS_EXCEEDED');
+	}
+}
diff --git a/api/src/exceptions/index.ts b/api/src/exceptions/index.ts
index db7444a24d..d98537e18e 100644
--- a/api/src/exceptions/index.ts
+++ b/api/src/exceptions/index.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ export * from './base';
 export * from './collection-not-found';
 export * from './field-not-found';
 export * from './forbidden';
+export * from './hit-rate-limit';
 export * from './invalid-credentials';
 export * from './invalid-payload';
 export * from './invalid-query';
diff --git a/api/src/middleware/rate-limiter.ts b/api/src/middleware/rate-limiter.ts
index 2c3da6b354..c7a1d88576 100644
--- a/api/src/middleware/rate-limiter.ts
+++ b/api/src/middleware/rate-limiter.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import { RequestHandler } from 'express';
 import redis from 'redis';
 import { RateLimiterRedis } from 'rate-limiter-flexible';
+import { HitRateLimitException } from '../exceptions';
 import env from '../env';
 
 const redisClient = redis.createClient({
@@ -47,14 +48,12 @@ const rateLimiter: RequestHandler = (req, res, next) => {
 			.catch((rejRes) => {
 				if (rejRes instanceof Error) {
 					throw new Error('Redis insurance limiter not set up');
-					process.exit(1);
 				} else {
 					// If there is no error, rateLimiterRedis promise rejected with number of ms before next request allowed
 					const secs = Math.round(rejRes.msBeforeNext / 1000) || 1;
 					res.set('Retry-After', String(secs));
 					res.status(429).send('Too Many Requests');
-					throw new Error(`To many requests, retry after ${secs}.`);
-					process.exit(1);
+					throw new HitRateLimitException(`To many requests, retry after ${secs}.`);
 				}
 			});
 	} catch (error) {