Pinecone Upsert Failing: Batch and Size Limits

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Batch the upsert

   Copy steps
   1. Send batches of 100 to 500 records, staying under 2 MB
   2. Run a few batches in parallel, paced to avoid 429s
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Shrink the records

   Copy steps
   1. Keep metadata small; store full text in your own database and keep only an ID
   2. Shorten IDs to under 512 characters
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Use import for big loads

   1. For very large datasets use import from object storage (up to 1 TB for on-demand indexes)
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Upsert returns a 400 or request-too-large style error on big batches or records with large metadata.

Why it happens

• More than 1,000 records or over 2 MB in one request
• More than 96 text records with integrated embedding
• Filterable metadata over 40 KB per record
• Record ID longer than 512 characters

This guide also covers

• pinecone upsert batch size limit
• pinecone upsert too large
• pinecone metadata size limit 40kb

The same problem in other apps

All plan limits, paywalls & watermarks guides →

• Chroma "sqlite3.OperationalError: database is locked" (Chroma)

Other Pinecone errors

• Pinecone Vector Dimension Does Not Match the Dimension of the Index
• Pinecone 429 Too Many Requests Error
• Pinecone Query Returns No Results or Empty Matches
• Pinecone Upsert Not Showing Up After Writing
• Pinecone Starter Index Paused, Archived or Deleted for Inactivity
• Pinecone Starter Plan Limits Reached
• Why Is My Pinecone Bill So High
• How to Cancel Pinecone or Downgrade to Starter