diff --git a/backend/src/common/retryer.js b/backend/src/common/retryer.js
index bbef173f..68672779 100644
--- a/backend/src/common/retryer.js
+++ b/backend/src/common/retryer.js
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@ const retryer = async (fetcher, variables, retries = 0) => {
   if (!RETRIES) {
     throw new CustomError("No GitHub API tokens found", CustomError.NO_TOKENS);
   }
+
   if (retries > RETRIES) {
     throw new CustomError(
       "Downtime due to GitHub API rate limiting",
       CustomError.MAX_RETRY,
     );
   }
+
   try {
     // try to fetch with the first token since RETRIES is 0 index i'm adding +1
     let response = await fetcher(
@@ -39,12 +41,16 @@ const retryer = async (fetcher, variables, retries = 0) => {
       retries,
     );
 
-    // prettier-ignore
-    const isRateExceeded = response.data.errors && response.data.errors[0].type === "RATE_LIMITED";
+    // react on both type and message-based rate-limit signals.
+    const errors = response?.data?.errors;
+    const errorType = errors?.[0]?.type;
+    const errorMsg = errors?.[0]?.message || "";
+    const isRateLimited =
+      (errors && errorType === "RATE_LIMITED") || /rate limit/i.test(errorMsg);
 
     // if rate limit is hit increase the RETRIES and recursively call the retryer
     // with username, and current RETRIES
-    if (isRateExceeded) {
+    if (isRateLimited) {
       logger.log(`PAT_${retries + 1} Failed due to rate limiting`);
       retries++;
       // directly return from the function
diff --git a/backend/tests/retryer.test.js b/backend/tests/retryer.test.js
index b0b4bd79..76630039 100644
--- a/backend/tests/retryer.test.js
+++ b/backend/tests/retryer.test.js
@@ -25,6 +25,27 @@ const fetcherFailOnSecondTry = jest.fn((_vars, _token, retries) => {
   });
 });
 
+const fetcherFailWithMessageBasedRateLimitErr = jest.fn(
+  (_vars, _token, retries) => {
+    return new Promise((res) => {
+      // faking rate limit
+      if (retries < 1) {
+        return res({
+          data: {
+            errors: [
+              {
+                type: "ASDF",
+                message: "API rate limit already exceeded for user ID 11111111",
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        });
+      }
+      return res({ data: "ok" });
+    });
+  },
+);
+
 describe("Test Retryer", () => {
   it("retryer should return value and have zero retries on first try", async () => {
     let res = await retryer(fetcher, {});
@@ -40,6 +61,13 @@ describe("Test Retryer", () => {
     expect(res).toStrictEqual({ data: "ok" });
   });
 
+  it("retryer should return value and have 2 retries with message based rate limit error", async () => {
+    let res = await retryer(fetcherFailWithMessageBasedRateLimitErr, {});
+
+    expect(fetcherFailWithMessageBasedRateLimitErr).toBeCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(res).toStrictEqual({ data: "ok" });
+  });
+
   it("retryer should throw specific error if maximum retries reached", async () => {
     try {
       await retryer(fetcherFail, {});