# Latency vs throughput

> From [The System Design Primer](https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer) by Donne Martin, licensed under CC BY 4.0, arranged into chapters for this site. Part of "Core trade-offs". Web page: https://system.tangentbyte.com/learn/latency-vs-throughput

**Latency** is the time to perform some action or to produce some result.

**Throughput** is the number of such actions or results per unit of time.

Generally, you should aim for **maximal throughput** with **acceptable latency**.

### Source(s) and further reading

- [Understanding latency vs throughput](https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/fv/posts/understanding-latency-vs-throughput)