[hshdhdhehd]

> Thankfully, CloudFlare is able to handle the traffic with a simple WAF rule and 444 response to reduce the outbound traffic.

That is strictly less resource intensive than serving 200 and some challenge.

[CaptainOfCoit]

Right, but if you re-read the submission, OP already tried that and found the costs to be potentially be too high, and are looking for alternatives...