diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5586c00cf..a18159f5a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ Important Changes in 0.X.Y
 Small changes:
 --------------
 
+ * Backends based on HTTP now allow several idle connections in parallel. This
+   is especially important for the REST backend, which (when used with a local
+   server) may create a lot connections and exhaust available ports quickly.
+   https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/985
+   https://github.com/restic/restic/pull/986
+
  * Regular status report: We've removed the status report that was printed
    every 10 seconds when restic is run non-interactively. You can still force
    reporting the current status by sending a `USR1` signal to the process.
diff --git a/src/restic/backend/http_transport.go b/src/restic/backend/http_transport.go
index 1f65ac7c3..6d7bef7e6 100644
--- a/src/restic/backend/http_transport.go
+++ b/src/restic/backend/http_transport.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ func Transport() http.RoundTripper {
 			DualStack: true,
 		}).DialContext,
 		MaxIdleConns:          100,
+		MaxIdleConnsPerHost:   100,
 		IdleConnTimeout:       90 * time.Second,
 		TLSHandshakeTimeout:   10 * time.Second,
 		ExpectContinueTimeout: 1 * time.Second,