diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index d4b4208336..a280949e94 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20181108010431-42b317875d0f
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20190712062909-fae7ac547cb7
 	golang.org/x/text v0.3.2
+	golang.org/x/time v0.0.0-20190308202827-9d24e82272b4
 	gopkg.in/natefinch/npipe.v2 v2.0.0-20160621034901-c1b8fa8bdcce
 	gopkg.in/olebedev/go-duktape.v3 v3.0.0-20190213234257-ec84240a7772
 	gopkg.in/sourcemap.v1 v1.0.5 // indirect
diff --git a/p2p/dnsdisc/client.go b/p2p/dnsdisc/client.go
index b3f6174b9d..9aadd2d979 100644
--- a/p2p/dnsdisc/client.go
+++ b/p2p/dnsdisc/client.go
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/p2p/enode"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/p2p/enr"
 	lru "github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 )
 
 // Client discovers nodes by querying DNS servers.
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Timeout         time.Duration      // timeout used for DNS lookups (default 5s)
 	RecheckInterval time.Duration      // time between tree root update checks (default 30min)
 	CacheLimit      int                // maximum number of cached records (default 1000)
+	RateLimit       float64            // maximum DNS requests / second (default 4)
 	ValidSchemes    enr.IdentityScheme // acceptable ENR identity schemes (default enode.ValidSchemes)
 	Resolver        Resolver           // the DNS resolver to use (defaults to system DNS)
 	Logger          log.Logger         // destination of client log messages (defaults to root logger)
@@ -58,9 +60,10 @@ type Resolver interface {
 
 func (cfg Config) withDefaults() Config {
 	const (
-		defaultTimeout = 5 * time.Second
-		defaultRecheck = 30 * time.Minute
-		defaultCache   = 1000
+		defaultTimeout   = 5 * time.Second
+		defaultRecheck   = 30 * time.Minute
+		defaultRateLimit = 3
+		defaultCache     = 1000
 	)
 	if cfg.Timeout == 0 {
 		cfg.Timeout = defaultTimeout
@@ -71,6 +74,9 @@ func (cfg Config) withDefaults() Config {
 	if cfg.CacheLimit == 0 {
 		cfg.CacheLimit = defaultCache
 	}
+	if cfg.RateLimit == 0 {
+		cfg.RateLimit = defaultRateLimit
+	}
 	if cfg.ValidSchemes == nil {
 		cfg.ValidSchemes = enode.ValidSchemes
 	}
@@ -85,15 +91,14 @@ func (cfg Config) withDefaults() Config {
 
 // NewClient creates a client.
 func NewClient(cfg Config) *Client {
-	c := &Client{
-		cfg:   cfg.withDefaults(),
-		clock: mclock.System{},
-	}
-	var err error
-	if c.entries, err = lru.New(c.cfg.CacheLimit); err != nil {
+	cfg = cfg.withDefaults()
+	cache, err := lru.New(cfg.CacheLimit)
+	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
-	return c
+	rlimit := rate.NewLimiter(rate.Limit(cfg.RateLimit), 10)
+	cfg.Resolver = &rateLimitResolver{cfg.Resolver, rlimit}
+	return &Client{cfg: cfg, entries: cache, clock: mclock.System{}}
 }
 
 // SyncTree downloads the entire node tree at the given URL.
@@ -191,6 +196,19 @@ func (c *Client) doResolveEntry(ctx context.Context, domain, hash string) (entry
 	return nil, nameError{name, errNoEntry}
 }
 
+// rateLimitResolver applies a rate limit to a Resolver.
+type rateLimitResolver struct {
+	r       Resolver
+	limiter *rate.Limiter
+}
+
+func (r *rateLimitResolver) LookupTXT(ctx context.Context, domain string) ([]string, error) {
+	if err := r.limiter.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return r.r.LookupTXT(ctx, domain)
+}
+
 // randomIterator traverses a set of trees and returns nodes found in them.
 type randomIterator struct {
 	cur      *enode.Node
diff --git a/p2p/dnsdisc/client_test.go b/p2p/dnsdisc/client_test.go
index 34bdb01d92..a2de2ee7a2 100644
--- a/p2p/dnsdisc/client_test.go
+++ b/p2p/dnsdisc/client_test.go
@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ func TestIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	nodes := testNodes(nodesSeed1, 30)
 	tree, url := makeTestTree("n", nodes, nil)
 	r := mapResolver(tree.ToTXT("n"))
-	c := NewClient(Config{Resolver: r, Logger: testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace)})
+	c := NewClient(Config{
+		Resolver:  r,
+		Logger:    testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace),
+		RateLimit: 500,
+	})
 	it, err := c.NewIterator(url)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
@@ -139,8 +143,9 @@ func TestIteratorLinks(t *testing.T) {
 	tree1, url1 := makeTestTree("t1", nodes[:10], nil)
 	tree2, url2 := makeTestTree("t2", nodes[10:], []string{url1})
 	c := NewClient(Config{
-		Resolver: newMapResolver(tree1.ToTXT("t1"), tree2.ToTXT("t2")),
-		Logger:   testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace),
+		Resolver:  newMapResolver(tree1.ToTXT("t1"), tree2.ToTXT("t2")),
+		Logger:    testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace),
+		RateLimit: 500,
 	})
 	it, err := c.NewIterator(url2)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -161,6 +166,7 @@ func TestIteratorNodeUpdates(t *testing.T) {
 			Resolver:        resolver,
 			Logger:          testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace),
 			RecheckInterval: 20 * time.Minute,
+			RateLimit:       500,
 		})
 	)
 	c.clock = clock
@@ -202,6 +208,7 @@ func TestIteratorLinkUpdates(t *testing.T) {
 			Resolver:        resolver,
 			Logger:          testlog.Logger(t, log.LvlTrace),
 			RecheckInterval: 20 * time.Minute,
+			RateLimit:       500,
 		})
 	)
 	c.clock = clock