diff --git a/.changeset/ninety-rules-sneeze.md b/.changeset/ninety-rules-sneeze.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bea9d00f7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/ninety-rules-sneeze.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend': patch
+---
+
+Minor performance improvement for `queryEntities` when the limit is 0.
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultEntitiesCatalog.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultEntitiesCatalog.ts
index 0245fe1d4e..81982d5617 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultEntitiesCatalog.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultEntitiesCatalog.ts
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ export class DefaultEntitiesCatalog implements EntitiesCatalog {
     countQuery.count('search.entity_id', { as: 'count' });
 
     const [rows, [{ count }]] = await Promise.all([
-      dbQuery,
+      limit > 0 ? dbQuery : [],
       // for performance reasons we invoke the countQuery
       // only on the first request.
       // The result is then embedded into the cursor