diff --git a/packages/backend-app-api/config.d.ts b/packages/backend-app-api/config.d.ts
index 137615a152..2371623b82 100644
--- a/packages/backend-app-api/config.d.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-app-api/config.d.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import { HumanDuration } from '@backstage/types';
+
 export interface Config {
   backend?: {
     auth?: {
@@ -32,6 +34,16 @@ export interface Config {
        * unless you configure credentials for service calls.
        */
       dangerouslyDisableDefaultAuthPolicy?: boolean;
+      rateLimit?: {
+        /**
+         * Limit each IP to max requests per window
+         */
+        max?: number;
+        /**
+         * The duration for which the rate limit is enforced
+         */
+        window?: HumanDuration;
+      };
     };
   };
 
diff --git a/packages/backend-app-api/package.json b/packages/backend-app-api/package.json
index 6f69c6551f..406ce80e4b 100644
--- a/packages/backend-app-api/package.json
+++ b/packages/backend-app-api/package.json
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
     "cors": "^2.8.5",
     "express": "^4.17.1",
     "express-promise-router": "^4.1.0",
+    "express-rate-limit": "^7.2.0",
     "fs-extra": "^11.2.0",
     "helmet": "^6.0.0",
     "jose": "^5.0.0",
diff --git a/packages/backend-app-api/src/services/implementations/httpRouter/createCredentialsBarrier.ts b/packages/backend-app-api/src/services/implementations/httpRouter/createCredentialsBarrier.ts
index a69fa5a804..6e5e06c59e 100644
--- a/packages/backend-app-api/src/services/implementations/httpRouter/createCredentialsBarrier.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-app-api/src/services/implementations/httpRouter/createCredentialsBarrier.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@ import {
   HttpRouterServiceAuthPolicy,
   RootConfigService,
 } from '@backstage/backend-plugin-api';
+import { durationToMilliseconds } from '@backstage/types';
 import { RequestHandler } from 'express';
 import { pathToRegexp } from 'path-to-regexp';
+import { rateLimit } from 'express-rate-limit';
+import { readDurationFromConfig } from '@backstage/config';
 
 export function createPathPolicyPredicate(policyPath: string) {
   if (policyPath === '/' || policyPath === '*') {
@@ -59,13 +62,32 @@ export function createCredentialsBarrier(options: {
   const unauthenticatedPredicates = new Array<(path: string) => boolean>();
   const cookiePredicates = new Array<(path: string) => boolean>();
 
-  const middleware: RequestHandler = (req, _, next) => {
+  // Default rate limit is 100 requests per 15 minutes
+  const max = config?.has('backend.auth.rateLimit.max')
+    ? config.getNumber('backend.auth.rateLimit.max')
+    : 100;
+
+  const duration = config?.has('backend.auth.rateLimit.window')
+    ? readDurationFromConfig(config.getConfig('backend.auth.rateLimit.window'))
+    : undefined;
+
+  // Default rate limit window is 15 minutes
+  const windowMs = duration ? durationToMilliseconds(duration) : 15 * 60 * 1000;
+
+  const limiter = rateLimit({
+    windowMs,
+    max,
+    standardHeaders: true, // Return rate limit info in the `RateLimit-*` headers
+    legacyHeaders: false, // Disable the `X-RateLimit-*` headers
+  });
+
+  const middleware: RequestHandler = (req, res, next) => {
     const allowsUnauthenticated = unauthenticatedPredicates.some(predicate =>
       predicate(req.path),
     );
 
     if (allowsUnauthenticated) {
-      next();
+      limiter(req, res, next);
       return;
     }
 
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index a0d94a3027..081bbeb40c 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3248,6 +3248,7 @@ __metadata:
     cors: ^2.8.5
     express: ^4.17.1
     express-promise-router: ^4.1.0
+    express-rate-limit: ^7.2.0
     fs-extra: ^11.2.0
     helmet: ^6.0.0
     http-errors: ^2.0.0
@@ -28044,6 +28045,15 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
+"express-rate-limit@npm:^7.2.0":
+  version: 7.2.0
+  resolution: "express-rate-limit@npm:7.2.0"
+  peerDependencies:
+    express: 4 || 5 || ^5.0.0-beta.1
+  checksum: 6adc3e06d430e91cf8ef8da23107466ffd9193b5680b03bc12702894cab0adcbb980634602b839b3a1444620f2379707098af3a4dcc38c909e89214abaf6c1bf
+  languageName: node
+  linkType: hard
+
 "express-session@npm:^1.17.1, express-session@npm:^1.17.3":
   version: 1.18.0
   resolution: "express-session@npm:1.18.0"