diff --git a/changelog.d/gun_pool2.fix b/changelog.d/gun_pool2.fix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1f98b49c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/gun_pool2.fix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Connection pool errors when publishing an activity is a soft-error that will be retried shortly.
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/gun/connection_pool/worker_supervisor.ex b/lib/pleroma/gun/connection_pool/worker_supervisor.ex
index 24ad61117..edaffcc25 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/gun/connection_pool/worker_supervisor.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/gun/connection_pool/worker_supervisor.ex
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Gun.ConnectionPool.WorkerSupervisor do
   def start_worker(opts, retry \\ false) do
     case DynamicSupervisor.start_child(__MODULE__, {Pleroma.Gun.ConnectionPool.Worker, opts}) do
       {:error, :max_children} ->
-        funs = [fn -> !retry end, fn -> match?(:error, free_pool()) end]
+        funs = [fn -> retry end, fn -> match?(:error, free_pool()) end]
 
         if Enum.any?(funs, fn fun -> fun.() end) do
           :telemetry.execute([:pleroma, :connection_pool, :provision_failure], %{opts: opts})
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/publisher.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/publisher.ex
index c27612697..9e7d00519 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/publisher.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/activity_pub/publisher.ex
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.ActivityPub.Publisher do
           _ -> {:error, e}
         end
 
+      {:error, :pool_full} ->
+        Logger.debug("Publisher snoozing worker job due to full connection pool")
+        {:snooze, 30}
+
       e ->
         unless params[:unreachable_since], do: Instances.set_unreachable(inbox)
         Logger.metadata(activity: id, inbox: inbox)