diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 45205a13..72f48b8d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,11 +6,14 @@ via scripts. I run a free version of it on *[ntfy.sh](https://ntfy.sh)*. **No si
 ## Usage
 
 ### Subscribe to a topic
-You can subscribe to a topic either in a web UI, or in your own app by subscribing to an 
-[SSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-sent_events)/[EventSource](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventSource),
+Topics are created on the fly by subscribing to them. You can create and subscribe to a topic either in a web UI, or in 
+your own app by subscribing to an [SSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-sent_events)/[EventSource](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventSource),
 or a JSON or raw feed.  
 
-Here's how to see the raw/json/sse stream in `curl`. This will subscribe to the topic and wait for events.
+Because there is no sign-up, **the topic is essentially a password**, so pick something that's not easily guessable.  
+
+Here's how you can create a topic `mytopic`, subscribe to it topic and wait for events. This is using `curl`, but you
+can use any library that can do HTTP GETs:
 
 ```
 # Subscribe to "mytopic" and output one message per line (\n are replaced with a space)
@@ -54,9 +57,11 @@ Best effort.
 ### Why is the web UI so ugly?
 I don't particularly like JS or dealing with CSS. I'll make it pretty after it's functional.
 
+## Will you know what topics exist, can you spy on me?
+If you don't trust me or your messages are sensitive, run your ntfy on your own server. That said, the logs do not 
+contain any topic names
+
 ## TODO
-- rate limiting / abuse protection
-- release/packaging
 - add HTTPS
 
 ## Contributing
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 85297910..ba91f132 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -1,18 +1,38 @@
 // Package config provides the main configuration
 package config
 
+import (
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Defines default config settings
 const (
-	DefaultListenHTTP = ":80"
+	DefaultListenHTTP      = ":80"
+	defaultManagerInterval = time.Minute
+)
+
+// Defines the max number of requests, here:
+// 50 requests bucket, replenished at a rate of 1 per second
+var (
+	defaultLimit      = rate.Every(time.Second)
+	defaultLimitBurst = 50
 )
 
 // Config is the main config struct for the application. Use New to instantiate a default config struct.
 type Config struct {
-	ListenHTTP string
+	ListenHTTP      string
+	Limit           rate.Limit
+	LimitBurst      int
+	ManagerInterval time.Duration
 }
 
 // New instantiates a default new config
 func New(listenHTTP string) *Config {
 	return &Config{
-		ListenHTTP: listenHTTP,
+		ListenHTTP:      listenHTTP,
+		Limit:           defaultLimit,
+		LimitBurst:      defaultLimitBurst,
+		ManagerInterval: defaultManagerInterval,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7c9ad4cd..791b7b0f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.4.1 // indirect
 	github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0
+	golang.org/x/time v0.0.0-20210723032227-1f47c861a9ac
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 2cd4b5df..91f925e9 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,23 +1,20 @@
-github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.3.1 h1:WXkYYl6Yr3qBf1K79EBnL4mak0OimBfB0XUf9Vl28OQ=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.3.1/go.mod h1:xHWCNGjB5oqiDr8zfno3MHue2Ht5sIBksp03qcyfWMU=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.4.1 h1:GaI7EiDXDRfa8VshkTj7Fym7ha+y8/XxIgD2okUIjLw=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.4.1/go.mod h1:CxXYINrC8qIiEnFrOxCa7Jy5BFHlXnUU2pbicEuybxQ=
-github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.0-20190314233015-f79a8a8ca69d h1:U+s90UTSYgptZMwQh2aRr3LuazLJIa+Pg3Kc1ylSYVY=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.0-20190314233015-f79a8a8ca69d/go.mod h1:maD7wRr/U5Z6m/iR4s+kqSMx2CaBsrgA7czyZG/E6dU=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.1 h1:r/myEWzV9lfsM1tFLgDyu0atFtJ1fXn261LKYj/3DxU=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.1/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
-github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
-github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.0.1 h1:lPqVAte+HuHNfhJ/0LC98ESWRz8afy9tM/0RK8m9o+Q=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.0.1/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 h1:JIOH55/0cWyOuilr9/qlrm0BSXldqnqwMsf35Ld67mk=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
-github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0 h1:PdmoCO6wvbs+7yrJyMORt4/BmY5IYyJwS/kOiWx8mHo=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0/go.mod h1:1NzhyTcUVG4SuEtjjoZeVRXNmyL/1OwPU0+IJeTBvfc=
 github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0 h1:qph92Y649prgesehzOrQjdWyxFOp/QVM+6imKHad91M=
 github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:LJmUH05zAU44vOAcrfzZQKsZbVcdbOG8rtL3/XcUArI=
+golang.org/x/time v0.0.0-20210723032227-1f47c861a9ac h1:7zkz7BUtwNFFqcowJ+RIgu2MaV/MapERkDIy+mwPyjs=
+golang.org/x/time v0.0.0-20210723032227-1f47c861a9ac/go.mod h1:tRJNPiyCQ0inRvYxbN9jk5I+vvW/OXSQhTDSoE431IQ=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405 h1:yhCVgyC4o1eVCa2tZl7eS0r+SDo693bJlVdllGtEeKM=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.3 h1:fvjTMHxHEw/mxHbtzPi3JCcKXQRAnQTBRo6YCJSVHKI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.3/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 h1:D8xgwECY7CYvx+Y2n4sBz93Jn9JRvxdiyyo8CTfuKaY=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0/go.mod h1:RDklbk79AGWmwhnvt/jBztapEOGDOx6ZbXqjP6csGnQ=
diff --git a/server/index.html b/server/index.html
index 1e3c2318..ddef43d3 100644
--- a/server/index.html
+++ b/server/index.html
@@ -3,37 +3,64 @@
 <head>
     <title>ntfy.sh</title>
     <style>
-        body { font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 140%; }
+        body { font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 130%; }
         #error { color: darkred; font-style: italic; }
-        #main { max-width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; }
+        #main { max-width: 900px; margin: 0 auto 50px auto; }
     </style>
 </head>
 <body>
 <div id="main">
-    <h1>ntfy.sh</h1>
-
+    <h1>ntfy.sh - simple HTTP-based pub-sub</h1>
     <p>
-        <b>ntfy</b> (pronounce: <i>notify</i>) is a simple HTTP-based pub-sub notification service. It allows you to send desktop and (soon) phone notifications
-        via scripts, without signup or cost. It's entirely free and open source. You can find the source code <a href="https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy">on GitHub</a>.
+        <b>ntfy</b> (pronounce: <i>notify</i>) is a simple <b>HTTP-based pub-sub notification service and tool</b>.
+        It allows you to send <b>desktop notifications via scripts</b>, entirely <b>without signup or cost</b>.
+        It's entirely free and open source. You can find the source code <a href="https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy">on GitHub</a>.
     </p>
-
-    <p>
-        You can subscribe to a topic either in this web UI, or in your own app by subscribing to an SSE/EventSource
-        or JSON feed. Once subscribed, you can publish messages via PUT or POST.
-    </p>
-
     <p id="error"></p>
 
+    <h2>Subscribe to a topic</h2>
+    <p>
+        Topics are created on the fly by subscribing to them. You can create and subscribe to a topic either in this web UI, or in
+        your own app by subscribing to an <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventSource">EventSource</a>,
+        a JSON feed, or raw feed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+        Because there is no sign-up, <b>the topic is essentially a password</b>, so pick something that's not easily guessable.
+    </p>
+
+    <h3>Subscribe via web</h3>
+    <p>
+        If you subscribe to a topic via this web UI in the field below, messages published to any subscribed topic
+        will show up as <b>desktop notification</b>. 
+    </p>
     <form id="subscribeForm">
         <p>
-            <input type="text" id="topicField" size="64" placeholder="Topic ID (letters, numbers, _ and -)"  pattern="[-_A-Za-z]{1,64}" autofocus />
+            <label for="topicField">Topic ID:</label>
+            <input type="text" id="topicField" size="64" placeholder="Letters, numbers, _ and -"  pattern="[-_A-Za-z]{1,64}" autofocus />
             <input type="submit" id="subscribeButton" value="Subscribe topic" />
         </p>
     </form>
-
-    <p id="topicsHeader"><b>Subscribed topics:</b></p>
+    <p id="topicsHeader">Subscribed topics:</p>
     <ul id="topicsList"></ul>
 
+    <h3>Subscribe via your app, or via the CLI</h3>
+    <tt>
+        curl -s ntfy.sh/mytopic/raw # one message per line (\n are replaced with a space)<br/>
+        curl -s ntfy.sh/mytopic/json # one JSON message per line<br/>
+        curl -s ntfy.sh/mytopic/sse # server-sent events (SSE) stream
+    </tt>
+
+    <h3>Publishing messages</h3>
+    <p>
+        Publishing messages can be done via PUT or POST using. Here's an example using <tt>curl</tt>:
+    </p>
+    <tt>
+        curl -d "long process is done" ntfy.sh/mytopic
+    </tt>
+    <p>
+        Messages published to a non-existing topic or a topic without subscribers will not be delivered later.
+        There is (currently) no buffering of any kind. If you're not listening, the message won't be delivered.
+    </p>
 </div>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
diff --git a/server/server.go b/server/server.go
index 77b2e5ac..c5b0a6b5 100644
--- a/server/server.go
+++ b/server/server.go
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	_ "embed" // required for go:embed
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 	"heckel.io/ntfy/config"
 	"io"
 	"log"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
@@ -16,19 +17,33 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+// Server is the main server
 type Server struct {
-	config *config.Config
-	topics map[string]*topic
-	mu     sync.Mutex
+	config   *config.Config
+	topics   map[string]*topic
+	visitors map[string]*visitor
+	mu       sync.Mutex
 }
 
-type message struct {
-	Time    int64  `json:"time"`
-	Message string `json:"message"`
+// visitor represents an API user, and its associated rate.Limiter used for rate limiting
+type visitor struct {
+	limiter *rate.Limiter
+	seen    time.Time
+}
+
+// errHTTP is a generic HTTP error for any non-200 HTTP error
+type errHTTP struct {
+	Code   int
+	Status string
+}
+
+func (e errHTTP) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("http: %s", e.Status)
 }
 
 const (
-	messageLimit = 1024
+	messageLimit        = 1024
+	visitorExpungeAfter = 30 * time.Minute
 )
 
 var (
@@ -40,18 +55,26 @@ var (
 	//go:embed "index.html"
 	indexSource string
 
-	errTopicNotFound = errors.New("topic not found")
+	errHTTPNotFound        = &errHTTP{http.StatusNotFound, http.StatusText(http.StatusNotFound)}
+	errHTTPTooManyRequests = &errHTTP{http.StatusTooManyRequests, http.StatusText(http.StatusTooManyRequests)}
 )
 
 func New(conf *config.Config) *Server {
 	return &Server{
-		config: conf,
-		topics: make(map[string]*topic),
+		config:   conf,
+		topics:   make(map[string]*topic),
+		visitors: make(map[string]*visitor),
 	}
 }
 
 func (s *Server) Run() error {
-	go s.runMonitor()
+	go func() {
+		ticker := time.NewTicker(s.config.ManagerInterval)
+		for {
+			<-ticker.C
+			s.updateStatsAndExpire()
+		}
+	}()
 	return s.listenAndServe()
 }
 
@@ -61,29 +84,43 @@ func (s *Server) listenAndServe() error {
 	return http.ListenAndServe(s.config.ListenHTTP, nil)
 }
 
-func (s *Server) runMonitor() {
-	for {
-		time.Sleep(30 * time.Second)
-		s.mu.Lock()
-		var subscribers, messages int
-		for _, t := range s.topics {
-			subs, msgs := t.Stats()
-			subscribers += subs
-			messages += msgs
+func (s *Server) updateStatsAndExpire() {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+
+	// Expire visitors from rate visitors map
+	for ip, v := range s.visitors {
+		if time.Since(v.seen) > visitorExpungeAfter {
+			delete(s.visitors, ip)
 		}
-		log.Printf("Stats: %d topic(s), %d subscriber(s), %d message(s) sent", len(s.topics), subscribers, messages)
-		s.mu.Unlock()
 	}
+
+	// Print stats
+	var subscribers, messages int
+	for _, t := range s.topics {
+		subs, msgs := t.Stats()
+		subscribers += subs
+		messages += msgs
+	}
+	log.Printf("Stats: %d topic(s), %d subscriber(s), %d message(s) sent, %d visitor(s)",
+		len(s.topics), subscribers, messages, len(s.visitors))
 }
 
 func (s *Server) handle(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	if err := s.handleInternal(w, r); err != nil {
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
-		_, _ = io.WriteString(w, err.Error()+"\n")
+		if e, ok := err.(*errHTTP); ok {
+			s.fail(w, r, e.Code, e)
+		} else {
+			s.fail(w, r, http.StatusInternalServerError, err)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
 func (s *Server) handleInternal(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
+	v := s.visitor(r.RemoteAddr)
+	if !v.limiter.Allow() {
+		return errHTTPTooManyRequests
+	}
 	if r.Method == http.MethodGet && r.URL.Path == "/" {
 		return s.handleHome(w, r)
 	} else if r.Method == http.MethodGet && jsonRegex.MatchString(r.URL.Path) {
@@ -95,8 +132,7 @@ func (s *Server) handleInternal(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	} else if (r.Method == http.MethodPut || r.Method == http.MethodPost) && topicRegex.MatchString(r.URL.Path) {
 		return s.handlePublishHTTP(w, r)
 	}
-	http.NotFound(w, r)
-	return nil
+	return errHTTPNotFound
 }
 
 func (s *Server) handleHome(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
@@ -206,7 +242,7 @@ func (s *Server) topic(topicID string) (*topic, error) {
 	defer s.mu.Unlock()
 	c, ok := s.topics[topicID]
 	if !ok {
-		return nil, errTopicNotFound
+		return nil, errHTTPNotFound
 	}
 	return c, nil
 }
@@ -218,3 +254,31 @@ func (s *Server) unsubscribe(t *topic, subscriberID int) {
 		delete(s.topics, t.id)
 	}
 }
+
+// visitor creates or retrieves a rate.Limiter for the given visitor.
+// This function was taken from https://www.alexedwards.net/blog/how-to-rate-limit-http-requests (MIT).
+func (s *Server) visitor(remoteAddr string) *visitor {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+	ip, _, err := net.SplitHostPort(remoteAddr)
+	if err != nil {
+		ip = remoteAddr // This should not happen in real life; only in tests.
+	}
+	v, exists := s.visitors[ip]
+	if !exists {
+		v = &visitor{
+			rate.NewLimiter(s.config.Limit, s.config.LimitBurst),
+			time.Now(),
+		}
+		s.visitors[ip] = v
+		return v
+	}
+	v.seen = time.Now()
+	return v
+}
+
+func (s *Server) fail(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, code int, err error) {
+	log.Printf("[%s] %s - %d - %s", r.RemoteAddr, r.Method, code, err.Error())
+	w.WriteHeader(code)
+	io.WriteString(w, fmt.Sprintf("%s\n", http.StatusText(code)))
+}
diff --git a/server/topic.go b/server/topic.go
index 7c8f38bf..e83c2966 100644
--- a/server/topic.go
+++ b/server/topic.go
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+// topic represents a channel to which subscribers can subscribe, and publishers
+// can publish a message
 type topic struct {
 	id          string
 	subscribers map[int]subscriber
@@ -19,6 +21,13 @@ type topic struct {
 	mu          sync.Mutex
 }
 
+// message represents a message published to a topic
+type message struct {
+	Time    int64  `json:"time"`
+	Message string `json:"message"`
+}
+
+// subscriber is a function that is called for every new message on a topic
 type subscriber func(msg *message) error
 
 func newTopic(id string) *topic {