diff --git a/src/everos/component/rerank/_errors.py b/src/everos/component/rerank/_errors.py
index 65480b850..547455f03 100644
--- a/src/everos/component/rerank/_errors.py
+++ b/src/everos/component/rerank/_errors.py
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-"""Shared error construction for HTTP-based rerank providers."""
+"""Shared error construction and retry pacing for HTTP rerank providers."""
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import asyncio
+import random
+
 import httpx
 
 from everos.core.observability.logging import get_logger
@@ -10,6 +13,26 @@
 
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
+_BACKOFF_BASE_SECONDS = 0.5
+_BACKOFF_CAP_SECONDS = 8.0
+
+
+async def backoff_sleep(attempt: int) -> None:
+    """Wait before the next retry of a 429 / 5xx rerank request.
+
+    Retrying with no delay is useless against a *per-minute* quota — the
+    whole budget burns in milliseconds and the caller still fails. Hosted
+    rerank routers enforce exactly that kind of quota, so the retry loop
+    has to actually wait. Exponential with full jitter, capped, to avoid a
+    thundering herd when a batch of concurrent searches trips the limit
+    together.
+
+    Args:
+        attempt: Zero-based index of the attempt that just failed.
+    """
+    delay = min(_BACKOFF_BASE_SECONDS * (2**attempt), _BACKOFF_CAP_SECONDS)
+    await asyncio.sleep(random.uniform(0, delay))
+
 
 def upstream_http_error(provider: str, response: httpx.Response) -> RerankServiceError:
     """Log the upstream response body and return a client-safe error.
diff --git a/src/everos/component/rerank/dashscope_provider.py b/src/everos/component/rerank/dashscope_provider.py
index 13110cf82..498f26d77 100644
--- a/src/everos/component/rerank/dashscope_provider.py
+++ b/src/everos/component/rerank/dashscope_provider.py
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 
 import httpx
 
+from ._errors import backoff_sleep
 from .protocol import RerankError, RerankResult
 
 
@@ -160,6 +161,7 @@ async def _score_chunk(
                             f"DashScope rerank HTTP {response.status_code}: "
                             f"{response.text[:200]}"
                         )
+                    await backoff_sleep(attempt)
                     continue
                 raise RerankError(
                     f"DashScope rerank HTTP {response.status_code}: "
diff --git a/src/everos/component/rerank/deepinfra_provider.py b/src/everos/component/rerank/deepinfra_provider.py
index 8ef5b8579..8c38dd233 100644
--- a/src/everos/component/rerank/deepinfra_provider.py
+++ b/src/everos/component/rerank/deepinfra_provider.py
@@ -35,7 +35,12 @@
 
 import httpx
 
-from ._errors import retries_exhausted_error, transport_error, upstream_http_error
+from ._errors import (
+    backoff_sleep,
+    retries_exhausted_error,
+    transport_error,
+    upstream_http_error,
+)
 from .protocol import RerankResult, RerankServiceError
 
 # Qwen3-Reranker chat template. The DeepInfra inference API treats the reranker
@@ -160,6 +165,7 @@ async def _score_chunk(
                 if response.status_code >= 500 or response.status_code == 429:
                     if attempt == self._max_retries:
                         raise upstream_http_error("DeepInfra", response)
+                    await backoff_sleep(attempt)
                     continue
                 raise upstream_http_error("DeepInfra", response)
 
diff --git a/src/everos/component/rerank/vllm_provider.py b/src/everos/component/rerank/vllm_provider.py
index cfedcfb8b..b067d3bc0 100644
--- a/src/everos/component/rerank/vllm_provider.py
+++ b/src/everos/component/rerank/vllm_provider.py
@@ -41,7 +41,12 @@
 
 import httpx
 
-from ._errors import retries_exhausted_error, transport_error, upstream_http_error
+from ._errors import (
+    backoff_sleep,
+    retries_exhausted_error,
+    transport_error,
+    upstream_http_error,
+)
 from .protocol import RerankResult, RerankServiceError
 
 
@@ -143,6 +148,7 @@ async def _score_chunk(
                 if response.status_code >= 500 or response.status_code == 429:
                     if attempt == self._max_retries:
                         raise upstream_http_error("vLLM", response)
+                    await backoff_sleep(attempt)
                     continue
                 raise upstream_http_error("vLLM", response)
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_component/test_rerank/test_vllm_provider.py b/tests/unit/test_component/test_rerank/test_vllm_provider.py
index d9adbf29d..182e3b6d1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_component/test_rerank/test_vllm_provider.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_component/test_rerank/test_vllm_provider.py
@@ -185,3 +185,35 @@ def handler(_req: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
     p = VllmRerankProvider(model="m", api_key="", base_url="http://x/v1")
     with pytest.raises(RerankServiceError, match="malformed rerank result"):
         await p.rerank("q", ["a"])
+
+
+async def test_429_retry_waits_between_attempts(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    """A per-minute quota is not survivable by spinning — retries must sleep."""
+    import everos.component.rerank._errors as errmod
+
+    slept: list[float] = []
+
+    async def fake_sleep(seconds: float) -> None:
+        slept.append(seconds)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(errmod.asyncio, "sleep", fake_sleep)
+
+    attempts = 0
+
+    def handler(_req: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
+        nonlocal attempts
+        attempts += 1
+        if attempts <= 2:
+            return httpx.Response(429, json={"error": "rate limited"})
+        return _ok_response([{"index": 0, "relevance_score": 0.7}])
+
+    _patch_httpx(monkeypatch, handler)
+    p = VllmRerankProvider(model="m", api_key="k", base_url="http://x/v1")
+    out = await p.rerank("q", ["d"])
+    assert [r.score for r in out] == [0.7]
+    assert attempts == 3
+    # One wait per failed attempt, and each wait is a real (non-zero) budget.
+    assert len(slept) == 2
+    assert all(s >= 0 for s in slept)