diff --git a/proxy/src/auth/backend.rs b/proxy/src/auth/backend.rs
index 3555eba543..f757a15fbb 100644
--- a/proxy/src/auth/backend.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/auth/backend.rs
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ use crate::{
     },
     stream, url,
 };
-use crate::{scram, EndpointCacheKey, EndpointId, Normalize, RoleName};
+use crate::{scram, EndpointCacheKey, EndpointId, RoleName};
 
 /// Alternative to [`std::borrow::Cow`] but doesn't need `T: ToOwned` as we don't need that functionality
 pub enum MaybeOwned<'a, T> {
diff --git a/proxy/src/console/provider/neon.rs b/proxy/src/console/provider/neon.rs
index 5d691e5f15..d72229b029 100644
--- a/proxy/src/console/provider/neon.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/console/provider/neon.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use crate::{
     http,
     metrics::{CacheOutcome, Metrics},
     rate_limiter::EndpointRateLimiter,
-    scram, EndpointCacheKey, Normalize,
+    scram, EndpointCacheKey,
 };
 use crate::{cache::Cached, context::RequestMonitoring};
 use futures::TryFutureExt;
@@ -281,14 +281,6 @@ impl super::Api for Api {
             return Ok(cached);
         }
 
-        // check rate limit
-        if !self
-            .wake_compute_endpoint_rate_limiter
-            .check(user_info.endpoint.normalize().into(), 1)
-        {
-            return Err(WakeComputeError::TooManyConnections);
-        }
-
         let permit = self.locks.get_permit(&key).await?;
 
         // after getting back a permit - it's possible the cache was filled
@@ -301,6 +293,15 @@ impl super::Api for Api {
             }
         }
 
+        // check rate limit
+        if !self
+            .wake_compute_endpoint_rate_limiter
+            .check(user_info.endpoint.normalize_intern(), 1)
+        {
+            info!(key = &*key, "found cached compute node info");
+            return Err(WakeComputeError::TooManyConnections);
+        }
+
         let mut node = permit.release_result(self.do_wake_compute(ctx, user_info).await)?;
         ctx.set_project(node.aux.clone());
         let cold_start_info = node.aux.cold_start_info;
diff --git a/proxy/src/lib.rs b/proxy/src/lib.rs
index 35c1616481..ea92eaaa55 100644
--- a/proxy/src/lib.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 use std::convert::Infallible;
 
 use anyhow::{bail, Context};
+use intern::{EndpointIdInt, EndpointIdTag, InternId};
 use tokio::task::JoinError;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 use tracing::warn;
@@ -129,20 +130,22 @@ macro_rules! smol_str_wrapper {
 
 const POOLER_SUFFIX: &str = "-pooler";
 
-pub trait Normalize {
-    fn normalize(&self) -> Self;
-}
-
-impl<S: Clone + AsRef<str> + From<String>> Normalize for S {
+impl EndpointId {
     fn normalize(&self) -> Self {
-        if self.as_ref().ends_with(POOLER_SUFFIX) {
-            let mut s = self.as_ref().to_string();
-            s.truncate(s.len() - POOLER_SUFFIX.len());
-            s.into()
+        if let Some(stripped) = self.as_ref().strip_suffix(POOLER_SUFFIX) {
+            stripped.into()
         } else {
             self.clone()
         }
     }
+
+    fn normalize_intern(&self) -> EndpointIdInt {
+        if let Some(stripped) = self.as_ref().strip_suffix(POOLER_SUFFIX) {
+            EndpointIdTag::get_interner().get_or_intern(stripped)
+        } else {
+            self.into()
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 // 90% of role name strings are 20 characters or less.