diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/api/checkout_sessions/route.ts b/apps/web/src/app/api/checkout_sessions/route.ts
index 6bbe487c9..6fe053c4a 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/api/checkout_sessions/route.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/api/checkout_sessions/route.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,51 @@
 import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 import type { Stripe } from 'stripe'
+import {
+  buildRateLimitKey,
+  checkRateLimit,
+  isSameOriginRequest,
+} from '@/lib/request-security'
+import { shouldBlockTraffic } from '@/lib/traffic-guard'
 import { stripe } from '@/services/stripe'
 
 export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
+  const country = req.headers.get('x-vercel-ip-country') ?? req.headers.get('cf-ipcountry')
+  const userAgent = req.headers.get('user-agent')
+
+  if (shouldBlockTraffic({ country, userAgent })) {
+    return new Response(null, {
+      status: 403,
+      headers: {
+        'cache-control': 'public, max-age=300, s-maxage=300',
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
+  if (!isSameOriginRequest(req)) {
+    return new Response(null, {
+      status: 403,
+      headers: {
+        'cache-control': 'public, max-age=300, s-maxage=300',
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
+  const rateLimit = checkRateLimit({
+    key: buildRateLimitKey(req, 'checkout_sessions'),
+    limit: 12,
+    windowMs: 60_000,
+  })
+
+  if (!rateLimit.allowed) {
+    return new Response(null, {
+      status: 429,
+      headers: {
+        'retry-after': String(rateLimit.retryAfterSeconds),
+        'cache-control': 'public, max-age=60, s-maxage=60',
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
   if (!stripe) {
     return Response.json({ error: 'Stripe is not configured' }, { status: 503 })
   }
@@ -15,7 +58,6 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
 
   const locale = (url.searchParams.get('locale') ??
     'en') as Stripe.Checkout.SessionCreateParams.Locale
-  const country = req.headers.get('x-vercel-ip-country')
 
   const prices = await stripe.prices.list({
     product: process.env.STRIPE_PRODUCT_ID,
diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/api/proxy/route.ts b/apps/web/src/app/api/proxy/route.ts
index 2ec09cfc9..0674577ea 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/api/proxy/route.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/api/proxy/route.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
+import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
+import {
+  buildRateLimitKey,
+  checkRateLimit,
+  isSameOriginRequest,
+} from '@/lib/request-security'
+import { shouldBlockTraffic } from '@/lib/traffic-guard'
 
 // Limit function execution time to 10 seconds
 export const maxDuration = 10
@@ -19,7 +26,40 @@ function isAllowedUrl(urlString: string): boolean {
   }
 }
 
-export async function GET(request: Request) {
+export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
+  const country =
+    request.headers.get('x-vercel-ip-country') ??
+    request.headers.get('cf-ipcountry')
+  const userAgent = request.headers.get('user-agent')
+
+  if (shouldBlockTraffic({ country, userAgent })) {
+    return new NextResponse(null, {
+      status: 403,
+      headers: {
+        'cache-control': 'public, max-age=300, s-maxage=300',
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
+  if (!isSameOriginRequest(request)) {
+    return new NextResponse(null, { status: 403 })
+  }
+
+  const rateLimit = checkRateLimit({
+    key: buildRateLimitKey(request, 'api-proxy'),
+    limit: 60,
+    windowMs: 60_000,
+  })
+
+  if (!rateLimit.allowed) {
+    return new NextResponse(null, {
+      status: 429,
+      headers: {
+        'retry-after': String(rateLimit.retryAfterSeconds),
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
   const { searchParams } = new URL(request.url)
   const url = searchParams.get('url')
 
diff --git a/apps/web/src/lib/request-security.ts b/apps/web/src/lib/request-security.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..acd5dd1b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/lib/request-security.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'
+
+type RateLimitOptions = {
+  key: string
+  limit: number
+  windowMs: number
+}
+
+type RateLimitEntry = {
+  count: number
+  expiresAt: number
+}
+
+const GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_KEY = '__plotwistRateLimitStore__'
+
+function getStore(): Map<string, RateLimitEntry> {
+  const globalState = globalThis as typeof globalThis & {
+    [GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_KEY]?: Map<string, RateLimitEntry>
+  }
+
+  if (!globalState[GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_KEY]) {
+    globalState[GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_KEY] = new Map<string, RateLimitEntry>()
+  }
+
+  return globalState[GLOBAL_RATE_LIMIT_KEY]
+}
+
+export function getClientIp(request: NextRequest): string {
+  const forwardedFor = request.headers.get('x-forwarded-for')
+  if (forwardedFor) {
+    return forwardedFor.split(',')[0]?.trim() ?? 'unknown'
+  }
+
+  return (
+    request.headers.get('x-real-ip') ??
+    request.headers.get('cf-connecting-ip') ??
+    'unknown'
+  )
+}
+
+export function buildRateLimitKey(request: NextRequest, route: string): string {
+  return `${route}:${getClientIp(request)}`
+}
+
+export function checkRateLimit({
+  key,
+  limit,
+  windowMs,
+}: RateLimitOptions): {
+  allowed: boolean
+  retryAfterSeconds: number
+} {
+  const now = Date.now()
+  const store = getStore()
+  const entry = store.get(key)
+
+  if (!entry || entry.expiresAt <= now) {
+    store.set(key, {
+      count: 1,
+      expiresAt: now + windowMs,
+    })
+
+    return { allowed: true, retryAfterSeconds: 0 }
+  }
+
+  if (entry.count >= limit) {
+    const retryAfterSeconds = Math.max(
+      1,
+      Math.ceil((entry.expiresAt - now) / 1000)
+    )
+    return { allowed: false, retryAfterSeconds }
+  }
+
+  entry.count += 1
+  store.set(key, entry)
+
+  return { allowed: true, retryAfterSeconds: 0 }
+}
+
+export function isSameOriginRequest(request: NextRequest): boolean {
+  const requestOrigin = request.nextUrl.origin
+  const originHeader = request.headers.get('origin')
+  const refererHeader = request.headers.get('referer')
+  const secFetchSite = request.headers.get('sec-fetch-site')
+
+  if (originHeader === requestOrigin) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  if (refererHeader) {
+    try {
+      if (new URL(refererHeader).origin === requestOrigin) {
+        return true
+      }
+    } catch {
+      return false
+    }
+  }
+
+  return secFetchSite === 'same-origin' || secFetchSite === 'same-site'
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/lib/traffic-guard.ts b/apps/web/src/lib/traffic-guard.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae645f16a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/lib/traffic-guard.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+const KNOWN_CRAWLER_UA_PATTERN =
+  /(googlebot|bingbot|duckduckbot|slurp|baiduspider|yandexbot|applebot|petalbot|facebookexternalhit|facebot|twitterbot|linkedinbot|slackbot|discordbot|whatsapp|telegrambot)/i
+
+const SUSPICIOUS_UA_PATTERN =
+  /(curl|wget|python-requests|python-urllib|go-http-client|java\/|libwww-perl|okhttp|postmanruntime|insomnia|headless|phantomjs|scrapy|nikto|nmap|sqlmap|masscan|zgrab)/i
+
+const BLOCKED_TRAFFIC_COUNTRIES = new Set(['SG'])
+
+type TrafficGuardOptions = {
+  country?: string | null
+  userAgent?: string | null
+  allowKnownCrawlers?: boolean
+}
+
+export function shouldBlockTraffic({
+  country,
+  userAgent,
+  allowKnownCrawlers = false,
+}: TrafficGuardOptions): boolean {
+  const normalizedCountry = country?.trim().toUpperCase()
+  const knownCrawler = Boolean(userAgent && KNOWN_CRAWLER_UA_PATTERN.test(userAgent))
+
+  if (allowKnownCrawlers && knownCrawler) {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  if (normalizedCountry && BLOCKED_TRAFFIC_COUNTRIES.has(normalizedCountry)) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  // Requests without UA or with known scripted signatures are almost always
+  // automated abuse, and they are a major source of avoidable edge/function costs.
+  if (!userAgent) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  if (SUSPICIOUS_UA_PATTERN.test(userAgent)) {
+    return true
+  }
+
+  return false
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/proxy.ts b/apps/web/src/proxy.ts
index 21a61ea1e..3a4178249 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/proxy.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/proxy.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { match } from '@formatjs/intl-localematcher'
 import Negotiator from 'negotiator'
 import { type NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server'
+import { shouldBlockTraffic } from '@/lib/traffic-guard'
 import { languages as appLanguages } from '../languages'
 
 const headers = { 'accept-language': 'en-US' }
@@ -13,6 +14,19 @@ match(languages, appLanguages, DEFAULT_LOCALE)
 export function proxy(req: NextRequest) {
   const { pathname } = req.nextUrl
 
+  const country =
+    req.headers.get('x-vercel-ip-country') ?? req.headers.get('cf-ipcountry')
+  const userAgent = req.headers.get('user-agent')
+
+  if (shouldBlockTraffic({ country, userAgent, allowKnownCrawlers: true })) {
+    return new NextResponse(null, {
+      status: 403,
+      headers: {
+        'cache-control': 'public, max-age=300, s-maxage=300',
+      },
+    })
+  }
+
   // Short URLs (/s/1Tu4V) are handled by app/s/[shortCode]/page.tsx which serves
   // OG metadata for social bots and a JS redirect for real users.
   if (pathname.startsWith('/s/')) {