Increase record limit in Free account

Hello Cloudflare team, I own a free subdomain service and use Cloudflare to store records. I know that Cloudflare has set record limits for Cloudflare accounts. I want my service to be able to grow long term, so I would like to ask if I can request to increase the record limit so that I can create more records to grow my service.
29 Replies
Erisa
Erisa•2w ago
If your service is open source or a nonprofit then you can request free increases, otherwise I don't believe so
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
Assuming you're referring to DNS records, you could look into deploying a wildcard if that might help your use case. One record, unlimited subdomains. That's assuming it's all on the same server though, or IP at least (if you're doing any load balancing or such).
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
@Erisa I can develop it in a non-profit direction. But my source code can not I don't think we should provide wildcard DNS to users, but if they want to use it, they can do so by pointing it to a NS record.
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
That all depends on what your end goal is here. If you're trying to host sites for users under various subdomains of their choosing (ex. forum hosting, some do this) then a wildcard might be just what you'd want. If you're trying to offer subdomains for others to do with at their own discretion then you'd have to look into subdomain NS, which I am unfamiliar with from a hosting perspective.
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
I am looking to build a service that provides subdomains to users or something like that.
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
yeah I would look into custom subdomain NS so users can point the subdomain to a host of their own choosing and go from there. I'm not sure if Cloudflare supports that or if you'd still run into the same limit issues.
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
ah What if it is a non-profit service?
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
I would get in touch with their sales support to discuss options if you have a 501(c)(3) for it (official non-profit, not a "I want to give things out for free" non profit. Unfortunately they don't work in tandem) (there may be alternatives to "501(c)(3)" based on the reasoning, it's been a minute since I've done any work for non profits)
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
Does Cloudflare API v4 have a record limit?
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
record limit for API? That would be a rate limit
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
What is the current Cloudflare limit for the Free plan?
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
that I am not sure of but I'm sure it's on their documentation 😛
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
hmmm, it just 1000 records
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
mind you records and rate limits are two different things records would be settings, rate limits are API calls both of which I'd imagine you'd need to consider given your plans probably implement some of your own so users don't abuse your system to essentially DoS everyone else's use.
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
but can i get a free record limit increase?
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
:this:
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
I need a large number of records to maintain the service long term. but i cant open source my project, it just had a dashboard and a discord bot
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
mind you "non-profit" is an official term meaning your business is registered wtih the government as "non-profit". Not just "we're doing this for free". Only re-emphasising based on this message. it's quite a bit of work to register and maintain a non-profit just like any other business. Gotta file paperwork, any donations received, expenses, taxes, etc. That's my understanding at least, I'm no accountaint. Just an IT guy 😛
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
i cant register a non-profit
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
then you can't get non-profit benefits :shrug_spin:
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
I am a student, i cant register it
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
I'd talk with your teacher then and see if they have any programs/aids for projects, especially if it's for school. That'd be my best suggestion. Trust me, myself and I'm sure a lot of others here would love to get non-profit donations for hobbyist and self development work, but that's not how it works.
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
but i did this project by myself and a few of my friends. a friend of mine donated the domain name to me. it has nothing to do with any school project
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
Then it would be considered hobby/small team work. Not a non-profit
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
i know
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
Your next best option is either front the expenses together or find someone who wants to sponsor/invest the work, but obviously they'll probably look for an ROI for their investment to make it worth their time/money. IMO $20/mo isn't that terribly bad, especially if you're on a team. 4 people is $5/ea/mo I'd just start with the free, see where it goes, see that it grows, and then revisit it if the demand calls for it. Unless you get a surge of new users, there's a chance they won't hit your limit. Make your own rate limits and maybe even cache some of the data locally and use cron jobs to update vs instant. Just some ideas, you do as you wish.
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
ok I will wait until there is a large enough user base
Dubz
Dubz•2w ago
Best of luck tho! Remember that if you grow your project large enough to demand investments like this, you're on the right track. Don't throw money down the drain and hope it takes off
William
WilliamOP•2w ago
and donations (but i think it's difficult) because we are just students, i don't think anyone will believe in us

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