diff --git a/src/lib/site-offline.ts b/src/lib/site-offline.ts
index fbbd338..45607f8 100644
--- a/src/lib/site-offline.ts
+++ b/src/lib/site-offline.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@
 
 export const SITE_OFFLINE = true;
 
-const STILL_SERVED = ['/api/health', '/api/webhooks'];
+// The web manifest too: every page links it, and a 307 to /invite-only for it was two
+// wasted requests per page view against a signed-out visitor's allowance.
+const STILL_SERVED = ['/api/health', '/api/webhooks', '/manifest.json'];
 
 export function stillServed(pathname: string): boolean {
   return STILL_SERVED.some((p) => pathname === p || pathname.startsWith(`${p}/`));
diff --git a/src/lib/throttle.test.ts b/src/lib/throttle.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bff5fe8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/throttle.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { meter } from './throttle';
+
+/** A signed-out browser: no session cookie, one address. */
+const from = (ip: string, path: string, init: RequestInit = {}) =>
+  new Request(`https://bittorrented.com${path}`, {
+    ...init,
+    headers: { 'x-forwarded-for': ip, 'x-real-ip': ip, 'user-agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 Firefox/140.0' },
+  });
+
+describe('the site-wide allowance, signed out', () => {
+  it('never meters the way back in', async () => {
+    // A logout plus a few reloads: Next prefetches each of these on every page view.
+    const paths = ['/invite-only', '/login', '/signup', '/forgot-password', '/reset-password', '/manifest.json'];
+    for (let i = 0; i < 40; i++) {
+      for (const path of paths) expect(await meter(from('198.51.100.7', path))).toBeNull();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('keeps "who am I" out of the sign-in bucket, so page views cannot spend the login', async () => {
+    const ip = '198.51.100.8';
+    for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) expect(await meter(from(ip, '/api/auth/me'))).toBeNull();
+    expect(await meter(from(ip, '/api/auth/login', { method: 'POST' }))).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('still holds sign-in attempts to ten a minute', async () => {
+    const ip = '198.51.100.9';
+    for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) expect(await meter(from(ip, '/api/auth/login', { method: 'POST' }))).toBeNull();
+    const refused = await meter(from(ip, '/api/auth/login', { method: 'POST' }));
+    expect(refused?.status).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(402);
+  });
+
+  it('still meters everything else at a hundred a minute', async () => {
+    const ip = '198.51.100.10';
+    for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) expect(await meter(from(ip, '/pricing'))).toBeNull();
+    expect((await meter(from(ip, '/pricing')))?.status).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(402);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/throttle.ts b/src/lib/throttle.ts
index 123eed7..4fe548f 100644
--- a/src/lib/throttle.ts
+++ b/src/lib/throttle.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ export const throttle = createThrottle({
       ? (/^Bearer\s+(\S+)/i.exec(request.headers.get('authorization') ?? '')?.[1] ?? null)
       : null),
   credential: { limit: 600, ceiling: 1200 },
+  /*
+   * The way back in is never metered. While the site is invite only, a signed-out
+   * browser can reach almost nothing but these, and Next prefetches every one of
+   * them (plus a refetch of each 307 to /invite-only) on every page view: one
+   * logout and two reloads spent the whole hundred, and the person who tripped it
+   * was then refused the login page itself (2026-10-06). A paywall you cannot
+   * reach to sign in past is a wall.
+   */
+  openPaths: ['/invite-only', '/login', '/signup', '/forgot-password', '/reset-password', '/manifest.json'],
   rules: [
     /* The expensive ones, at the numbers they were already tuned to. */
     { path: '/api/search/', limit: 30 },
@@ -57,6 +66,12 @@ export const throttle = createThrottle({
     { path: '/dht', limit: 60 },
     /* Sign-in stays address-bucketed, or a guess buys the session budget. */
     { path: '/api/auth/', limit: 10, credential: false },
+    /*
+     * Except "who am I", which every page asks on load. In the sign-in bucket it
+     * spent the ten guesses before anyone typed a password, so the login POST
+     * that followed a few page views was the request refused.
+     */
+    { path: '/api/auth/me', limit: 100 },
   ],
 });