diff --git a/include/lighttpd/connection.h b/include/lighttpd/connection.h
index 41fdbcf..0532c48 100644
--- a/include/lighttpd/connection.h
+++ b/include/lighttpd/connection.h
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ struct connection {
 		guint max_idle;
 		ev_timer watcher;
 	} keep_alive_data;
+	guint keep_alive_requests;
 
 	/* I/O timeout data */
 	waitqueue_elem io_timeout_elem;
diff --git a/include/lighttpd/plugin_core.h b/include/lighttpd/plugin_core.h
index 9bbb9f4..625bc8c 100644
--- a/include/lighttpd/plugin_core.h
+++ b/include/lighttpd/plugin_core.h
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ enum core_options_t {
 
 	CORE_OPTION_SERVER_TAG,
 	CORE_OPTION_MAX_KEEP_ALIVE_IDLE,
+	CORE_OPTION_MAX_KEEP_ALIVE_REQUESTS,
 
 	CORE_OPTION_MIME_TYPES,
 
diff --git a/src/connection.c b/src/connection.c
index d3790c0..072ea4b 100644
--- a/src/connection.c
+++ b/src/connection.c
@@ -122,6 +122,11 @@ static gboolean connection_handle_read(connection *con) {
 		con->keep_alive_data.timeout = 0;
 		ev_timer_stop(con->wrk->loop, &con->keep_alive_data.watcher);
 
+		con->keep_alive_requests++;
+		/* disable keep alive if limit is reached */
+		if (con->keep_alive_requests == CORE_OPTION(CORE_OPTION_MAX_KEEP_ALIVE_REQUESTS).number)
+			con->keep_alive = FALSE;
+
 		con->state = CON_STATE_READ_REQUEST_HEADER;
 		con->ts = CUR_TS(con->wrk);
 
@@ -369,6 +374,7 @@ void connection_reset(connection *con) {
 	con->keep_alive_data.timeout = 0;
 	con->keep_alive_data.max_idle = 0;
 	ev_timer_stop(con->wrk->loop, &con->keep_alive_data.watcher);
+	con->keep_alive_requests = 0;
 
 	/* reset stats */
 	con->stats.bytes_in = G_GUINT64_CONSTANT(0);
diff --git a/src/plugin_core.c b/src/plugin_core.c
index 2e91052..411d4e9 100644
--- a/src/plugin_core.c
+++ b/src/plugin_core.c
@@ -798,6 +798,7 @@ static const plugin_option options[] = {
 
 	{ "server.tag", VALUE_STRING, "lighttpd-2.0~sandbox", NULL, NULL },
 	{ "server.max_keep_alive_idle", VALUE_NUMBER, GINT_TO_POINTER(5), NULL, NULL },
+	{ "server.max_keep_alive_requests", VALUE_NUMBER, GINT_TO_POINTER(15), NULL, NULL },
 
 	{ "mime_types", VALUE_LIST, NULL, core_option_mime_types_parse, core_option_mime_types_free },