diff --git a/docs/src/searx.plugins.limiter.rst b/docs/src/searx.plugins.limiter.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4984cd37a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/src/searx.plugins.limiter.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+.. _limiter plugin:
+
+==============
+Limiter Plugin
+==============
+
+.. automodule:: searx.plugins.limiter
+  :members:
+
diff --git a/searx/plugins/limiter.py b/searx/plugins/limiter.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eb0704c9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/searx/plugins/limiter.py
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+# lint: pylint
+# pyright: basic
+"""Some bot protection / rate limitation
+
+Enable the plugin in ``settings.yml``:
+
+- ``server.limiter: true``
+- ``redis.url: ...`` check the value, see :ref:`settings redis`
+"""
+
+import hmac
+import re
+from flask import request
+
+from searx.shared import redisdb
+
+name = "Request limiter"
+description = "Limit the number of request"
+default_on = False
+preference_section = 'service'
+
+
+re_bot = re.compile(
+    r'('
+    + r'[Cc][Uu][Rr][Ll]|[wW]get|Scrapy|splash|JavaFX|FeedFetcher|python-requests|Go-http-client|Java|Jakarta|okhttp'
+    + r'|HttpClient|Jersey|Python|libwww-perl|Ruby|SynHttpClient|UniversalFeedParser|Googlebot|GoogleImageProxy'
+    + r'|bingbot|Baiduspider|yacybot|YandexMobileBot|YandexBot|Yahoo! Slurp|MJ12bot|AhrefsBot|archive.org_bot|msnbot'
+    + r'|MJ12bot|SeznamBot|linkdexbot|Netvibes|SMTBot|zgrab|James BOT|Sogou|Abonti|Pixray|Spinn3r|SemrushBot|Exabot'
+    + r'|ZmEu|BLEXBot|bitlybot'
+    + r')'
+)
+
+
+def is_accepted_request(inc_get_counter) -> bool:
+    # pylint: disable=too-many-return-statements
+    user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
+    x_forwarded_for = request.headers.get('X-Forwarded-For', '')
+
+    if request.path == '/image_proxy':
+        if re_bot.match(user_agent):
+            return False
+        return True
+
+    c = inc_get_counter(interval=25, keys=[b'IP limit, all paths', x_forwarded_for])
+    if c > 30:
+        return False
+
+    c = inc_get_counter(interval=60, keys=[b'useragent limit, all paths', x_forwarded_for, user_agent])
+    if c > 30:
+        return False
+
+    if request.path in ('/', '/search') and ('q' in request.args or 'q' in request.form):
+        if re_bot.match(user_agent):
+            return False
+
+        if 'Accept-Language' not in request.headers:
+            return False
+
+        if request.headers.get('Connection') == 'close':
+            return False
+
+        accept_encoding_list = [l.strip() for l in request.headers.get('Accept-Encoding', '').split(',')]
+        if 'gzip' not in accept_encoding_list or 'deflate' not in accept_encoding_list:
+            return False
+
+        if 'text/html' not in request.accept_mimetypes:
+            return False
+
+        if request.args.get('format', 'html') != 'html':
+            c = inc_get_counter(interval=3600, keys=[b'API limit', x_forwarded_for])
+            if c > 4:
+                return False
+    return True
+
+
+def create_inc_get_counter(redis_client, secret_key_bytes):
+    lua_script = """
+    local slidingWindow = KEYS[1]
+    local key = KEYS[2]
+    local now = tonumber(redis.call('TIME')[1])
+    local id = redis.call('INCR', 'counter')
+    if (id > 2^46)
+    then
+        redis.call('SET', 'count', 0)
+    end
+    redis.call('ZREMRANGEBYSCORE', key, 0, now - slidingWindow)
+    redis.call('ZADD', key, now, id)
+    local result = redis.call('ZCOUNT', key, 0, now+1)
+    redis.call('EXPIRE', key, slidingWindow)
+    return result
+    """
+    script_sha = redis_client.script_load(lua_script)
+
+    def inc_get_counter(interval, keys):
+        m = hmac.new(secret_key_bytes, digestmod='sha256')
+        for k in keys:
+            m.update(bytes(str(k), encoding='utf-8') or b'')
+            m.update(b"\0")
+        key = m.digest()
+        return redis_client.evalsha(script_sha, 2, interval, key)
+
+    return inc_get_counter
+
+
+def create_pre_request(get_aggregation_count):
+    def pre_request():
+        if not is_accepted_request(get_aggregation_count):
+            return '', 429
+        return None
+
+    return pre_request
+
+
+def init(app, settings):
+
+    if not settings['server']['limiter']:
+        return False
+
+    logger.debug("init limiter DB")  # pylint: disable=undefined-variable
+    if not redisdb.init():
+        logger.error("init limiter DB failed!!!")  # pylint: disable=undefined-variable
+        return False
+
+    redis_client = redisdb.client()
+    secret_key_bytes = bytes(settings['server']['secret_key'], encoding='utf-8')
+    inc_get_counter = create_inc_get_counter(redis_client, secret_key_bytes)
+    app.before_request(create_pre_request(inc_get_counter))
+    return True
diff --git a/searx/settings.yml b/searx/settings.yml
index be068a10e..9d91e5329 100644
--- a/searx/settings.yml
+++ b/searx/settings.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ server:
   port: 8888
   bind_address: "127.0.0.1"
   base_url: false  # Possible values: false or "https://example.org/location".
+  limiter: false  # rate limit the number of request on the instance, block some bots
 
   # If your instance owns a /etc/searxng/settings.yml file, then set the following
   # values there.
diff --git a/searx/settings_defaults.py b/searx/settings_defaults.py
index ff556e3bb..15b4524c6 100644
--- a/searx/settings_defaults.py
+++ b/searx/settings_defaults.py
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ SCHEMA = {
     'server': {
         'port': SettingsValue((int, str), 8888, 'SEARXNG_PORT'),
         'bind_address': SettingsValue(str, '127.0.0.1', 'SEARXNG_BIND_ADDRESS'),
+        'limiter': SettingsValue(bool, False),
         'secret_key': SettingsValue(str, environ_name='SEARXNG_SECRET'),
         'base_url': SettingsValue((False, str), False),
         'image_proxy': SettingsValue(bool, False),