diff --git a/include/functions.php b/include/functions.php
index d58f03ab1..750707626 100644
--- a/include/functions.php
+++ b/include/functions.php
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@
 	define_default('MAX_CONDITIONAL_INTERVAL', 3600*12);
 	// max interval between forced unconditional updates for servers
 	// not complying with http if-modified-since (seconds)
+	define_default('MAX_FETCH_REQUESTS_PER_HOST', 25);
+	// a maximum amount of allowed HTTP requests per destination host
+	// during a single update (i.e. within PHP process lifetime)
+	// this is used to not cause excessive load on the origin server on
+	// e.g. feed subscription when all articles are being processes
 
 	/* tunables end here */
 
@@ -171,6 +176,7 @@
 		global $fetch_last_modified;
 		global $fetch_effective_url;
 		global $fetch_curl_used;
+		global $fetch_domain_hits;
 
 		$fetch_last_error = false;
 		$fetch_last_error_code = -1;
@@ -180,6 +186,9 @@
 		$fetch_last_modified = "";
 		$fetch_effective_url = "";
 
+		if (!is_array($fetch_domain_hits))
+			$fetch_domain_hits = [];
+
 		if (!is_array($options)) {
 
 			// falling back on compatibility shim
@@ -222,6 +231,14 @@
 		if (strpos($url, "//") === 0)
 			$url = 'http:' . $url;
 
+		$url_host = parse_url($url, PHP_URL_HOST);
+		$fetch_domain_hits[$url_host] += 1;
+
+		if ($fetch_domain_hits[$url_host] > MAX_FETCH_REQUESTS_PER_HOST) {
+			user_error("Exceeded fetch request quota for $url_host: " . $fetch_domain_hits[$url_host], E_USER_WARNING);
+			#return false;
+		}
+
 		if (!defined('NO_CURL') && function_exists('curl_init') && !ini_get("open_basedir")) {
 
 			$fetch_curl_used = true;