database connection pooling, is it absolutely necessary or just, like, too much most of the time?

hey everyone, ive been thinking about database connection pooling lately. were seeing some performance bottlenecks in our app, and while connection pooling seems like a no-brainer for high-traffic services, im wondering about the real-world impact for smaller, less active services. are there situations where setting up and managing connection pools actually adds more overhead than it saves, especially if database load is infrequent? curious to hear your experiences and when youve found it truly essential versus when a simpler direct connection strategy might suffice.