diff --git a/docs/ENV-NOTES b/docs/ENV-NOTES
index 58baf97..d16f567 100644
--- a/docs/ENV-NOTES
+++ b/docs/ENV-NOTES
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ BANDWIDTH_LIMIT  - per-session periodic bandwith usage limit in bytes.
                    end of each period.  Currently the period is
                    hard-coded to be one hour.  The default limit value
                    is 2 million bytes.
+CONN_LIMIT       - the number of new incoming connections is limited to
+CONN_LIMIT_SECS    CONN_LIMIT connections every CONN_LIMIT_SECS.
+                   The default is 10 every 10 seconds.
 SESSION_TIMEOUT  - an integer number of seconds defaulting to 600.
                    Sessions with no activity for longer than this are
                    disconnected.
diff --git a/server/env.py b/server/env.py
index f13c56e..5f30ac6 100644
--- a/server/env.py
+++ b/server/env.py
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ class Env(LoggedClass):
         self.max_subs = self.integer('MAX_SUBS', 250000)
         self.max_session_subs = self.integer('MAX_SESSION_SUBS', 50000)
         self.bandwidth_limit = self.integer('BANDWIDTH_LIMIT', 2000000)
+        self.conn_limit = self.integer('CONN_LIMIT', 10)
+        self.conn_limit_secs = self.integer('CONN_LIMIT_SECS', 10)
         self.session_timeout = self.integer('SESSION_TIMEOUT', 600)
         # IRC
         self.irc = self.default('IRC', False)
diff --git a/server/protocol.py b/server/protocol.py
index 6696c52..8ed4a73 100644
--- a/server/protocol.py
+++ b/server/protocol.py
@@ -233,11 +233,15 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
         self.next_stale_check = 0
         self.history_cache = pylru.lrucache(512)
         self.futures = []
+        self.cl_kizami = 0
+        self.cl_session_id = 0
         env.max_send = max(350000, env.max_send)
         self.logger.info('session timeout: {:,d} seconds'
                          .format(env.session_timeout))
         self.logger.info('session bandwidth limit {:,d} bytes'
                          .format(env.bandwidth_limit))
+        self.logger.info('new sessions limited to {:,d} every {:,d}s'
+                         .format(env.conn_limit, env.conn_limit_secs))
         self.logger.info('max response size {:,d} bytes'.format(env.max_send))
         self.logger.info('max subscriptions across all sessions: {:,d}'
                          .format(self.max_subs))
@@ -379,18 +383,30 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
                              .format(len(self.sessions)))
 
     def add_session(self, session):
-        self.clear_stale_sessions()
-        coro = session.serve_requests()
-        future = asyncio.ensure_future(coro)
-        self.sessions[session] = future
-        session.log_info('connection from {}, {:,d} total'
-                         .format(session.peername(), len(self.sessions)))
-        # Some connections are acknowledged after the servers are closed
-        if not self.servers:
-            self.close_session(session)
+        now = time.time()
+        self.clear_stale_sessions(now)
+        if now > self.cl_kizami:
+            self.cl_kizami = now + self.env.conn_limit_secs
+            self.cl_session_id = session.id_
+        count = session.id_ - self.cl_session_id
+        if count > self.env.conn_limit:
+            session.log_info('closing connection from {}: {:,d} in last {:,d}s'
+                             .format(session.peername(), count,
+                                     self.env.conn_limit_secs))
+            session.transport.close()
+        else:
+            coro = session.serve_requests()
+            future = asyncio.ensure_future(coro)
+            self.sessions[session] = future
+            session.log_info('connection from {}, {:,d} total'
+                             .format(session.peername(), len(self.sessions)))
+            # Some connections are acknowledged after the servers are closed
+            if not self.servers:
+                self.close_session(session)
 
     def remove_session(self, session):
         # It might have been forcefully removed earlier by close_session()
+        # or never added because of connection rate limiting
         if session in self.sessions:
             self.subscription_count -= session.sub_count()
             future = self.sessions.pop(session)
@@ -407,9 +423,8 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
         session.log_me = not session.log_me
         return 'log {:d}: {}'.format(session.id_, session.log_me)
 
-    def clear_stale_sessions(self):
+    def clear_stale_sessions(self, now):
         '''Cut off sessions that haven't done anything for 10 minutes.'''
-        now = time.time()
         if now > self.next_stale_check:
             self.next_stale_check = now + 60
             cutoff = now - self.env.session_timeout