diff --git a/server/db/sqlite/driver.ts b/server/db/sqlite/driver.ts
index 0e50d1289..644a160aa 100644
--- a/server/db/sqlite/driver.ts
+++ b/server/db/sqlite/driver.ts
@@ -60,13 +60,9 @@ function createDb() {
     // retry loops that accumulate memory.
     sqlite.pragma("busy_timeout = 5000");
 
-    // 64 MB page cache (default 2 MB) — reduces I/O round-trips on large
-    // TraefikConfigManager JOINs that block the event loop.
-    sqlite.pragma("cache_size = -65536");
-
-    // 256 MB memory-mapped I/O — OS serves reads from page cache directly,
-    // reducing event-loop blocking.
-    sqlite.pragma("mmap_size = 268435456");
+    // Intentionally NOT setting cache_size or mmap_size: a large page cache plus
+    // a multi-hundred-MB mmap region inflate RSS and cause page-cache thrashing
+    // on small (~1 GB) instances. Leave SQLite on its conservative defaults.
 
     // Wrap prepare() so every drizzle-orm statement is auto-finalized after
     // first use, preventing sqlite3_stmt accumulation between GC cycles.