diff --git a/backend/open_webui/config.py b/backend/open_webui/config.py
index 983db4e04b..887a0ea722 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/config.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/config.py
@@ -2967,6 +2967,29 @@ WEB_SEARCH_RESULT_COUNT = PersistentConfig(
 )
 
 
+# Web Search Rate Limiting Config
+
+WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED = PersistentConfig(
+    "WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED",
+    "rag.web.search.rate_limit.enabled",
+    os.getenv("WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED", "False").lower(),
+)
+
+# The maximum number of requests that can be made to the web search engine per N seconds, where N=WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MIN_SECONDS
+WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS = PersistentConfig(
+    "WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS",
+    "rag.web.search.rate_limit.max_requests",
+    int(os.getenv("WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS", "1")),
+)
+
+#
+WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MIN_SECONDS = PersistentConfig(
+    "WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MIN_SECONDS",
+    "rag.web.search.rate_limit.min_seconds",
+    int(os.getenv("WEB_SEARCH_RATE_MIN_SECONDS", "1")),
+)
+
+
 # You can provide a list of your own websites to filter after performing a web search.
 # This ensures the highest level of safety and reliability of the information sources.
 WEB_SEARCH_DOMAIN_FILTER_LIST = PersistentConfig(
diff --git a/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py b/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
index 08ffde1733..ee3642e367 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ import mimetypes
 import os
 import shutil
 import asyncio
+import time
 
 import re
 import uuid
-from datetime import datetime
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+from multiprocessing import Value
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Iterator, List, Optional, Sequence, Union
 
@@ -24,6 +26,9 @@ from fastapi import (
 )
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
 from fastapi.concurrency import run_in_threadpool
+
+from functools import wraps
+from collections import deque
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 import tiktoken
 
@@ -1766,7 +1771,62 @@ async def process_web(
             detail=ERROR_MESSAGES.DEFAULT(e),
         )
 
+from open_webui.config import (
+    WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS,
+    WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MIN_SECONDS,
+    WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED,
+)
 
+# Rate Limit (Specifically for search: This references environment variables named for search)
+
+
+web_search_lock = asyncio.Lock()
+# Track timestamps of previous calls
+web_search_timestamps = deque()
+
+
+def search_rate_limit(max_calls: int, period: float):
+    """
+    Async-friendly decorator for limiting function calls to `max_calls` per `period` seconds.
+    Works in FastAPI async endpoints without blocking the event loop.
+    """
+
+    def decorator(func):
+        @wraps(func)
+        async def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+            async with web_search_lock:
+                now = asyncio.get_event_loop().time()
+
+                # Remove timestamps older than the period
+                while web_search_timestamps and now - web_search_timestamps[0] > period:
+                    web_search_timestamps.popleft()
+
+                if len(web_search_timestamps) >= max_calls:
+                    # Need to wait until oldest call is outside the period
+                    wait_time = period - (now - web_search_timestamps[0])
+                    await asyncio.sleep(wait_time)
+                    now = asyncio.get_event_loop().time()
+                    while (
+                        web_search_timestamps
+                        and now - web_search_timestamps[0] > period
+                    ):
+                        web_search_timestamps.popleft()
+
+                # Record this call
+                web_search_timestamps.append(now)
+
+            # Call the actual function
+            return await func(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        return wrapper
+
+    return decorator
+
+
+@search_rate_limit(
+    int(WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS.value),
+    int(WEB_SEARCH_RATE_LIMIT_MIN_SECONDS.value),
+)
 def search_web(
     request: Request, engine: str, query: str, user=None
 ) -> list[SearchResult]:
@@ -1792,6 +1852,8 @@ def search_web(
         query (str): The query to search for
     """
 
+    logging.info(f"search_web: {engine} query: {query}")
+
     # TODO: add playwright to search the web
     if engine == "ollama_cloud":
         return search_ollama_cloud(
@@ -2087,6 +2149,7 @@ async def process_web_search(
 
         for result in search_results:
             if result:
+                result = await result
                 for item in result:
                     if item and item.link:
                         result_items.append(item)