Build a better service or better technology.

If you can't, well then... We're stuck.

Until proven otherwise in your specific case, the better technology is just hosting directly on a VPS without Cloudflare. And if your 5$ VPS is maxed out, while serving any less than 10 requests per second, then you need to optimize your software before considering an upgrade.

▲

esseph 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Okay but the bots are loose and you have a bandwidth cap on most VPSs.

Because you have no CDN, all the bots are coming directly to you.

Because that's no CDN or distributed WAF, they're hammering your box.

Because your IP is directly exposed, you're also showing up on Shodan.

Your server may have enough CPU and RAM to handle the load, but does your monthly bandwidth allocation with your provider?

Many are finding previous bandwidth limits (starting around 10TB/month) are no longer enough.

	▲	inigyou 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Bandwidth is cheap at places that don't call themselves "cloud". You can even get unmetered. 10TB/month is usually enough, even with bots. If you're serving large files, put a simple bot test on the page before the files.