I have over 70,000 images and hundreds of albums. Chronic problem with my host has been that the overloaded db has been impacting the host's server. So they disabled my coppermine db. Cannot access anything anymore.
They want me to switch to VPS hosting. Do you think their cheapest VPS plan would resolve my problem? Or if you have any suggestions for a solution, let me know.
https://www.pair.com/vps-hosting/
A few years ago, I suggested to you that you try a theme caching plugin (https://coppermine-gallery.com/forum/index.php/topic,80231.0.html). If your site is mainly public facing (users don't log in), the plugin will greatly reduce total database access. Many gallery pages are cached and the database is only accessed for them at whatever interval you set.
If caching doesn't work for you ... yes, their cheapest VPS plan should provide all you would need.
Host informed me that most of the requests are from bots. They recommended Cloudflare so I've signed up and changed the nameservers. It should reduce unwanted traffic. Host re-enabled the coppermine db. Hopefully this will work in the long term.
In addition to what ron4mac has suggested and what you have done so far, turninig off logging detailed Hit Statistics will take a large load off of your DB. Bot/crawler traffic has been hugely inreasing as of late.