How To Fix Cloudflare Error 1015 “You Are Being Rate Limited”

Cloudflare is designed to boost the security of many websites and applications, safeguarding users’ data and protecting the sites from cyber-attacks. However, mishaps happen, and users can be banned from accessing a website by mistake. Depending on the nature of the site, website owners may notice fewer visitors are clicking on their pages.

Less online traction can result in steep financial losses.

Site owners need a practical solution that will allow them to run their websites smoothly. Luckily, there are several methods for bypassing the rate-limiting error. Continue reading to learn what Cloudflare’s “error 1015” means and the best ways to resolve it.

Error 1015 You Are Being Rate Limited

Cloudflare’s background processes prevent hackers from getting past the site’s firewall and keep it from crashing due to increased traffic. But Cloudflare’s preventive measures might also affect how the site responds to user actions.

Sometimes certain user actions can trigger “error 1015” and block them from entering the site. Frequent login attempts with incorrect information and refreshing the page several times may bar users from going to a website. After a short waiting period, they’ll regain access and will be able to navigate the site with no further issues. However, when the issue persists, the problem may lie with the site’s Cloudflare configuration.

If many website visitors report encountering the “error 1015” window, the pop-up message informs them that the site owner has banned them from accessing the page. This means that your web pages cannot process a sudden influx of access requests.

Slightly tweaking your site and modifying the Cloudflare setpoints will upgrade the request processing speed. The pages will become more user-friendly and handle more page requests without crashing or freezing.

How to Fix Error 1015 You Are Being Rate Limited Cloudflare

There are several ways to fix this error, and most of them involve tweaking your Cloudflare website or app protection settings to provide a better user experience.

Lower User Activity Speed

Whenever a user visits a website, the page needs time and resources to answer their request. When multiple users interact with the site simultaneously, its pages require more support to avoid shutting down. Rate-limiting analyzes user activity and prevents repeated requests from reaching the domain. It can also slow its operation.

For example, someone can try submitting their phone number to your website several times because they’ve forgotten the digit order. The website registers this as potentially suspicious activity and will put the person in a virtual timeout. The ban will expire in about 15 minutes, and the user will have full access to the site.

While rate-limiting keeps websites from slacking, it can deter users from coming back. Other solutions enable site owners to increase the sites’ request volumes and satisfy even the most impatient users.

Disable the Website’s Rate Limiting

If the frequent appearance of “error 1015” is hurting your business or search engine rankings, you have the option of turning off rate-limiting on your app or website.

Visitors won’t have to deal with sudden pop-up messages, but keep in mind that switching off rate-limiting could potentially damage your site too. Without that extra protective barrier, the app or website may struggle to handle more user requests. Additionally, hackers will encounter less resistance when attempting to infiltrate the site’s infrastructure.

It’s best to treat this method as a temporary solution until you’ve established the best rate-limiting set points for optimal web performance.

Wipe the Current Rate Limiting Settings

Switching off rate-limiting will usually enable unlimited web traffic flow. However, sometimes the domain can continue to operate on the previously established Cloudflare configurations. In that case, the site owner will have to wipe these settings to remove access restrictions manually. To do so:

1. Check whether you’ve disabled access bans.
2. Reinstate the request restrictions again using your site owner Cloudflare account.
3. Delete all rate-limiting regulations.
4. Switch of rate-limiting again.

Once you’ve deleted these configurations, the site or app will be open to users from all over the world using different IP addresses. They’ll be able to make as many web requests as they want without being locked out.

Increase the Number of Requests the Website Can Process

Most people assume that entering a website accounts for a one-page request, but that’s not the case. The site will read a single page visit as at least 50 requests to grant users access to all its features. This number drastically increases if users have cleared their cache or cookies information.

Responsible site owners understand how page visits work and set a higher request threshold so that all users can have a glitch-free experience. The Cloudflare owner account allows you to view your request threshold settings and modify them accordingly so that they can support heavier web traffic. When the app or site implements these changes, it will stop issuing frequent “error 1015” messages.

Modify the Time Limit

A narrow time frame could also bar users from making legitimate site requests.

Enabling the site to block users who have interacted with a page several times within ten seconds will make the website less user-friendly. It will stonewall most interactions, processing only a small number of user requests.

Cloudflare’s customer support team suggests that you establish a time limit of ten seconds or longer. This extended period enables multiple users to view the site simultaneously without denying web access.

Increase Bandwidth Support

If your site cannot process large amounts of data, it will resort to locking out users to recover and continue working correctly. When you expect the site will generate a lot of traffic with many returning visitors, you should consider upping your bandwidth.

Providing the pages with more resources will minimize access interruptions and provide optimal data transmission between the site and its users.

Website Optimization

An outdated website design might also cause issues for visitors trying to enter the site. Pages with slow loading speeds force users to repeatedly refresh their browsers and wipe cache data whenever they click on the site’s URL. Unable to respond to these requests, the site prevents visitors from using its features.

The site should be optimized to meet the latest industry standards and offer users sufficient cache support to avoid these problems.

Community Support

Cloudflare provides its users with a rich library of resources to resolve various errors. While the methods we mentioned are effective, you should keep an eye on Cloudflare’s Community section. Other website and app owners post their experiences and how they’ve strengthened their online presence. It’s an excellent place for finding solutions to issues you might face in the future.

Provide Website Visitors With an Error-Free Experience

Cloudflare works hard to give its users top-quality service by shielding their websites from suspicious activity and cyber attacks. However, their measures sometimes negatively impact user experience and block legitimate visitors from using the site. The good news is that there are several ways for adjusting your Cloudflare protection so that visitors won’t encounter an unprompted “error 1015” message.

This article has outlined how to make your website more user-friendly by adjusting Cloudflare rate-limiting.

Have you experienced rate-limiting problems with your website? How did you resolve the issue? Let us know in the comment section below.