Error 1015: Why Cloudflare Blocks You and How to Fix It

Error 1015 most often occurs when trying to access a website protected by Cloudflare's web firewall. Unlike errors 1010 (bad IP address) and 1005 (ASN subnet block), error 1015 means that the number of requests from a single IP address has exceeded the allowed limit.

Cloudflare's CDN service handles a huge volume of traffic, but that does not mean its capacity is unlimited. To protect itself and its clients' websites, Cloudflare analyzes a large number of browser and IP address parameters during connection attempts. If the firewall detects something suspicious, the connection is blocked in order to reduce the overall load on the servers.

However, this is not the only possible cause of error 1015. Below, we will look at what exactly can trigger this code in different situations, and also explain how to work around these restrictions when scraping websites.

About Scraping Ethics

If a block with error 1015 is indeed related to scraping, it is worth briefly revisiting the ethical side of the issue:

• Do not create excessive load on the target website's servers and infrastructure. When sending sequential single-threaded requests, leave a sufficient delay between them so that the request rate remains balanced and resembles the behavior of a real user browsing pages.
• If you scrape a website using multiple threads, keep an eye on their number. Do not let the situation turn into something similar to a DDoS attack. The more of your connections the server has to handle, the fewer real users will be able to use the site.
• Do not access pages or sections of a website that are disallowed in the robots.txt file. Attempts to visit restricted sections are a common reason for sanctions and blocks.
• Respect intellectual property. You should not scrape someone else's content and then use it for your own purposes. It is intellectual work protected by copyright, and doing so is a direct violation of the law in many countries.

Causes of Error 1015

We found two situations in which errors with code 1015 may occur. The most common one is a block triggered by Cloudflare, while the second is an issue that can appear during update installation on Switch consoles (error code: 2206-1015).

Below, we will go through each of them in detail.

Cloudflare Error 1015

Error 1015 itself means that too many requests are being made from your IP address.

When Cloudflare blocks your address, it states the reason directly on the placeholder page:

Error 1015. You are being rate limited.

Visually, it looks like this:

Additional details on the block page may include the Ray ID, the date and time, and the website where the client was blocked.

The description of error 1015 as "rate limited" is too vague, so let us add more technical detail. This kind of block can be triggered by several different factors:

• You are connecting to the site through a low-quality proxy or VPN service. In simple terms, several clients may be using the same IP address at the same time. Those clients may be very different from one another: with drastically different browser fingerprints and cookies, time zones, login sessions on the target website, and so on.
• You opened too many tabs for the same target website. Or you are connecting to the site at the same time from different browsers, browser profiles, or devices at home. In turn, the site owner may have configured a very strict limit on the number of simultaneous sessions in Cloudflare WAF settings.
• Your device may be infected with malware or running a hidden bot. Requests are being sent to the website on your behalf, even though you may not be aware of it.
• You are working from a local network behind NAT. This often happens when an internet provider has too few free IP addresses in its pool. In that case, one IP address may be assigned at the same time to hundreds of real users. These are often called "gray rotating IPs." They should not be confused with standard "white" IPs with dynamic rotation. In effect, it becomes a kind of spontaneous botnet.
• You tried to sign in to your account on the website and entered the wrong password several times in a row. Failed login attempts can also be interpreted by Cloudflare as exceeding the rate limit.

Error Code 2206-1015 on Switch Consoles

When trying to update Nintendo Switch consoles to version 20.0.0, or during the update itself, many users encountered the following errors: "Error code 2206-1014" or "Error code 2206-1015."

The issue was fixed in firmware version 20.0.1 and later. To resolve it, the official support portal recommended turning off the console, entering recovery mode (similar to smartphones — you need to power on the console while holding the "+" and "–" volume buttons at the same time), and then updating the system through the corresponding recovery menu option — "Update System."

See also: Setting Up a Proxy on Nintendo Switch

Possible Ways to Bypass an Error 1015 Block During Scraping

So, if Cloudflare has already blocked your IP address because of suspicious activity, you really only have two options:

• wait until the block is lifted,
• switch to a different IP address.

A Note on Cloudflare Block Types and How Long They Last

A reasonable question follows: How long does error 1015 last? It would be nice to give a precise answer, but in reality, everything depends on the settings configured by the website owner in their Cloudflare account, as well as on the type of block involved.

• Manual IP or IP range block may remain in place indefinitely, until the administrator removes the rule.
• Automatic block caused by exceeding the request limit is temporary and usually lasts around 15–20 minutes. In some cases, especially when large-scale malicious activity is suspected, it may last an hour or even longer.
• IP reputation-based block may be either temporary or permanent. It is worth noting that the reputation of a particular IP can improve over time and eventually rise above the threshold set in Cloudflare's security settings.
• Block triggered by a high website security level may be less predictable. In this case, Cloudflare can filter incoming traffic more aggressively and keep blocking an IP until the perceived threat level drops according to its internal analysis.

Bypassing Error 1015 with High-Quality Proxies

As you may have noticed, Cloudflare does not just count the number of requests per unit of time — it also maintains an internal reputation score for IP addresses.

If error 1015 is still there after 15–20 minutes, or if it reappears very quickly, you should:

• check your scraper settings, because it is most likely sending requests too frequently. Add delays between requests or increase the existing ones;
• replace low-quality proxies with better ones that support automatic rotation. Residential or mobile proxies are usually the best choice, since they tend to have the highest trust level from Cloudflare WAF;
• simply refresh or replace the proxy server through your current provider. A new IP address may not be blocked, so error 1015 will no longer appear.

If that still does not help, then simple bypass methods are probably no longer enough — your scraper is likely being detected and blocked because of a poor digital fingerprint.

To better match the behavior of real users, a scraper can connect to the target website through a headless browser and also take into account a range of browser profile parameters: cookies, user-agent, installed fonts, extensions, bookmarks, supported technologies, and so on. Read more about digital fingerprints.

Another useful article on the topic: How to Bypass Cloudflare: Proven Methods.

Conclusions and Recommendations

So, if you have encountered Cloudflare error 1015, the most likely reason is that the request frequency in your scraper is configured poorly. Cloudflare does not have any universal "gold standards" here. The limit on the number of requests per minute is set by the website owner when configuring Cloudflare WAF.

If the block is automatic, it will usually be lifted on its own after about 15–20 minutes. But if the block is manual, then you really only have one option — switch to a new IP address. No large-scale scraper can operate without high-quality proxies.

Froxy offers more than 10 million residential and mobile IP addresses with automatic rotation. You can change the IP on virtually every new request. Targeting is available down to the city and internet provider level. You pay only for the traffic you consume, not for the number of requests or the number of proxies.

If you do not want to build your own scraper from scratch, our ready-made cloud solution, Froxy Web Scrapers, may also be a good fit.