diff --git a/picard/coverart/providers/caa.py b/picard/coverart/providers/caa.py
index e1bad91d7..1ddf938d9 100644
--- a/picard/coverart/providers/caa.py
+++ b/picard/coverart/providers/caa.py
@@ -65,10 +65,7 @@ from picard.coverart.utils import (
     CAA_TYPES,
     translate_caa_type,
 )
-from picard.webservice import (
-    hostkey_from_url,
-    ratecontrol,
-)
+from picard.webservice import ratecontrol
 
 from picard.ui import PicardDialog
 from picard.ui.ui_provider_options_caa import Ui_CaaOptions
@@ -92,8 +89,8 @@ _CAA_IMAGE_SIZE_DEFAULT = 500
 _CAA_IMAGE_TYPE_DEFAULT_INCLUDE = ['front']
 _CAA_IMAGE_TYPE_DEFAULT_EXCLUDE = ['matrix/runout', 'raw/unedited', 'watermark']
 
-ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay(hostkey_from_url(CAA_URL), 0)
-ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay(hostkey_from_url('https://archive.org'), 0)
+ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay_for_url(CAA_URL, 0)
+ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay_for_url('https://archive.org', 0)
 
 
 def caa_url_fallback_list(desired_size, thumbnails):
diff --git a/picard/webservice/__init__.py b/picard/webservice/__init__.py
index 1a277ccba..6fad8f9e7 100644
--- a/picard/webservice/__init__.py
+++ b/picard/webservice/__init__.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ from picard.util import (
 )
 from picard.util.xml import parse_xml
 from picard.webservice import ratecontrol
+from picard.webservice.utils import port_from_qurl
 
 
 COUNT_REQUESTS_DELAY_MS = 250
@@ -91,42 +92,6 @@ class UnknownResponseParserError(Exception):
         super().__init__(message)
 
 
-def port_from_qurl(qurl):
-    """Returns QUrl port or default ports (443 for https, 80 for http)"""
-    if qurl.scheme() == 'https':
-        return qurl.port(443)
-    return qurl.port(80)
-
-
-def hostkey_from_url(url):
-    """Returns (host, port) from passed url (as string or QUrl)"""
-    if not isinstance(url, QUrl):
-        url = QUrl(url)
-    return (url.host(), port_from_qurl(url))
-
-
-def host_port_to_url(host, port, path=None, scheme=None, as_string=False):
-    """Convert host & port (with optional path and scheme) to an URL"""
-    url = QUrl()
-    if scheme is None:
-        if port == 443:
-            scheme = 'https'
-        else:
-            scheme = 'http'
-    url.setScheme(scheme)
-
-    if ((scheme == 'https' and port != 443)
-            or (scheme == 'http' and port != 80)):
-        url.setPort(port)
-
-    url.setHost(host)
-
-    if path is not None:
-        url.setPath(path)
-
-    return url.toString() if as_string else url
-
-
 class WSRequest(QNetworkRequest):
     """Represents a single HTTP request."""
     _access_token = None
diff --git a/picard/webservice/api_helpers.py b/picard/webservice/api_helpers.py
index 9c01d63b4..ff502a137 100644
--- a/picard/webservice/api_helpers.py
+++ b/picard/webservice/api_helpers.py
@@ -34,13 +34,12 @@ from picard.const import (
 )
 from picard.webservice import (
     CLIENT_STRING,
-    host_port_to_url,
-    hostkey_from_url,
     ratecontrol,
 )
+from picard.webservice.utils import host_port_to_url
 
 
-ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay(hostkey_from_url(ACOUSTID_URL), 333)
+ratecontrol.set_minimum_delay_for_url(ACOUSTID_URL, 333)
 
 
 def escape_lucene_query(text):
diff --git a/picard/webservice/ratecontrol.py b/picard/webservice/ratecontrol.py
index 0235bb024..8e9248270 100644
--- a/picard/webservice/ratecontrol.py
+++ b/picard/webservice/ratecontrol.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import sys
 import time
 
 from picard import log
+from picard.webservice.utils import hostkey_from_url
 
 
 # ============================================================================
@@ -85,6 +86,14 @@ def set_minimum_delay(hostkey, delay_ms):
     REQUEST_DELAY_MINIMUM[hostkey] = delay_ms
 
 
+def set_minimum_delay_for_url(url, delay_ms):
+    """Set the minimun delay between requests
+            url will be converted to an unique key (host, port)
+            delay_ms is the delay in milliseconds
+    """
+    set_minimum_delay(hostkey_from_url(url), delay_ms)
+
+
 def current_delay(hostkey):
     """Returns the current delay (adaptive) between requests for this hostkey
             hostkey is an unique key, for example (host, port)
diff --git a/picard/webservice/utils.py b/picard/webservice/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..272208da0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/picard/webservice/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2007 Lukáš Lalinský
+# Copyright (C) 2009 Carlin Mangar
+# Copyright (C) 2017 Sambhav Kothari
+# Copyright (C) 2018-2022 Philipp Wolfer
+# Copyright (C) 2018-2023 Laurent Monin
+# Copyright (C) 2021 Tche333
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+
+"""
+Asynchronous web service utilities.
+"""
+
+from PyQt5.QtCore import QUrl
+
+
+def port_from_qurl(qurl):
+    """Returns QUrl port or default ports (443 for https, 80 for http)"""
+    if qurl.scheme() == 'https':
+        return qurl.port(443)
+    return qurl.port(80)
+
+
+def hostkey_from_url(url):
+    """Returns (host, port) from passed url (as string or QUrl)"""
+    if not isinstance(url, QUrl):
+        url = QUrl(url)
+    return (url.host(), port_from_qurl(url))
+
+
+def host_port_to_url(host, port, path=None, scheme=None, as_string=False):
+    """Convert host & port (with optional path and scheme) to an URL"""
+    url = QUrl()
+    if scheme is None:
+        if port == 443:
+            scheme = 'https'
+        else:
+            scheme = 'http'
+    url.setScheme(scheme)
+
+    if ((scheme == 'https' and port != 443)
+            or (scheme == 'http' and port != 80)):
+        url.setPort(port)
+
+    url.setHost(host)
+
+    if path is not None:
+        url.setPath(path)
+
+    return url.toString() if as_string else url
diff --git a/test/test_webservice.py b/test/test_webservice.py
index ff0bf55ea..66113f775 100644
--- a/test/test_webservice.py
+++ b/test/test_webservice.py
@@ -44,10 +44,12 @@ from picard.webservice import (
     UnknownResponseParserError,
     WebService,
     WSRequest,
+    ratecontrol,
+)
+from picard.webservice.utils import (
     host_port_to_url,
     hostkey_from_url,
     port_from_qurl,
-    ratecontrol,
 )
 
 
@@ -536,7 +538,7 @@ class WSRequestTest(PicardTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(request.url().toString(), 'http://example.org/path?a=1&a=2&b=x x&c=1+2&d=%26&e=?')
 
 
-class MiscWebServiceTest(PicardTestCase):
+class WebServiceUtilsTest(PicardTestCase):
 
     def test_port_from_qurl_http(self):
         self.assertEqual(port_from_qurl(QUrl('http://example.org')), 80)