Cloudflare Error 1015: You Are Being Rate Limited
Error 1015 means the visitor has exceeded the rate limit configured by the site owner using Cloudflare's Rate Limiting feature. The site owner defines thresholds (e.g., 100 requests per minute to a specific URL pattern) and when a visitor exceeds that threshold, Cloudflare blocks subsequent requests for a configurable timeout period. This is a deliberate protection mechanism against abuse, brute-force attacks, and API overuse.
Status
Error 1015: You Are Being Rate LimitedExample
GET /search?q=test HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
Accept: text/htmlHTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 7f8a9b0c1d2e3456-SIN
Retry-After: 60
Content-Type: text/html
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>www.example.com | Error 1015</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Error 1015: You are being rate limited</h1>
<p>You have sent too many requests. Please wait a moment before trying again.</p>
</body>
</html>How to Troubleshoot
Wait and retry
Rate limits typically have a timeout period (e.g., 60 seconds). Wait for the timeout to expire and then resume normal browsing at a slower pace.
Reduce request frequency in scripts
If running an automated tool, add delays between requests to stay below the rate limit. Implement exponential backoff when receiving 429 responses.
Check if a shared IP is the issue
If you are on a corporate or shared network, the combined traffic from all users may be triggering the limit.
Check Your IPSite owner: Review rate limiting rules
Check Security > WAF > Rate Limiting Rules in the Cloudflare dashboard. Ensure thresholds are appropriate and not blocking legitimate traffic.
Common Causes
Too many requests in a short time period
highThe visitor (or their application/script) sent more requests than the site owner's rate limit allows within the defined time window.
Automated script or bot hitting the site repeatedly
highA scraper, crawler, or automated tool is making rapid requests that exceed the rate limit threshold.
Shared IP with multiple users
mediumWhen multiple users share the same IP (e.g., corporate NAT, mobile carrier), their combined requests may exceed the rate limit even though each individual user's traffic is reasonable.
Quick Diagnostics
Related Error Codes
Access Denied by Firewall Rule
The request was blocked by a Cloudflare WAF or firewall rule configured by the site owner.
Access Denied
Access was denied based on the visitor's activity being flagged as malicious by Cloudflare.
Access Denied: Your IP Has Been Banned
The site owner has blocked the visitor's IP address using Cloudflare's firewall tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
This reference was compiled from official RFCs, protocol specifications, and hands-on troubleshooting experience. AI tools were used primarily for formatting and organizing the content on the page.