diff --git a/.eslintignore b/.eslintignore
index ddc583d55..618271e60 100644
--- a/.eslintignore
+++ b/.eslintignore
@@ -733,6 +733,9 @@ packages/app-desktop/services/commands/stateToWhenClauseContext.js.map
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.d.ts
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.js
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.js.map
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.d.ts
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.js
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.js.map
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.d.ts
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.js
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.js.map
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9b174f0c7..5fb8565d4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -723,6 +723,9 @@ packages/app-desktop/services/commands/stateToWhenClauseContext.js.map
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.d.ts
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.js
 packages/app-desktop/services/commands/types.js.map
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.d.ts
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.js
+packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.js.map
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.d.ts
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.js
 packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PlatformImplementation.js.map
diff --git a/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.ts b/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3d9d1e03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/BackOffHandler.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import Logger from '@joplin/lib/Logger';
+import time from '@joplin/lib/time';
+
+const logger = Logger.create('BackOffHandler');
+
+// This handler performs two checks:
+//
+// 1. If the plugin makes many API calls one after the other, a delay is going
+//    to be applied before responding. The delay is set using backOffIntervals_.
+//    When a plugin needs to be throttled that way a warning is displayed so
+//    that the author gets an opportunity to fix it.
+//
+// 2. If the plugin makes many simultaneous calls (over 100), the handler throws
+//    an exception to stop the plugin. In that case the plugin will be broken,
+//    but most plugins will not get this error anyway because call are usually
+//    made in sequence. It might reveal a bug though - for example if the plugin
+//    makes a call every 1 second, but does not wait for the response (or assume
+//    the response will come in less than one second). In that case, the back
+//    off intervals combined with the incorrect code will make the plugin fail.
+
+export default class BackOffHandler {
+
+	private backOffIntervals_ = Array(100).fill(0).concat([0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8]);
+	private lastRequestTime_ = 0;
+	private pluginId_: string;
+	private resetBackOffInterval_ = (this.backOffIntervals_[this.backOffIntervals_.length - 1] + 1) * 1000;
+	private backOffIndex_ = 0;
+	private waitCount_ = 0;
+	private maxWaitCount_ = 100;
+
+	public constructor(pluginId: string) {
+		this.pluginId_ = pluginId;
+	}
+
+	private backOffInterval() {
+		const now = Date.now();
+
+		if (now - this.lastRequestTime_ > this.resetBackOffInterval_) {
+			this.backOffIndex_ = 0;
+		} else {
+			this.backOffIndex_++;
+		}
+
+		this.lastRequestTime_ = now;
+		const effectiveIndex = this.backOffIndex_ >= this.backOffIntervals_.length ? this.backOffIntervals_.length - 1 : this.backOffIndex_;
+		return this.backOffIntervals_[effectiveIndex];
+	}
+
+	public async wait(path: string, args: any) {
+		const interval = this.backOffInterval();
+		if (!interval) return;
+
+		this.waitCount_++;
+
+		logger.warn(`Plugin ${this.pluginId_}: Applying a backoff of ${interval} seconds due to frequent plugin API calls. Consider reducing the number of calls, caching the data, or requesting more data per call. API call was: `, path, args, `[Wait count: ${this.waitCount_}]`);
+
+		if (this.waitCount_ > this.maxWaitCount_) throw new Error(`Plugin ${this.pluginId_}: More than ${this.maxWaitCount_} API alls are waiting - aborting. Please consider queuing the API calls in your plugins to reduce the load on the application.`);
+
+		await time.sleep(interval);
+
+		this.waitCount_--;
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PluginRunner.ts b/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PluginRunner.ts
index 8dfb5274b..9fdd35953 100644
--- a/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PluginRunner.ts
+++ b/packages/app-desktop/services/plugins/PluginRunner.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import Setting from '@joplin/lib/models/Setting';
 import { EventHandlers } from '@joplin/lib/services/plugins/utils/mapEventHandlersToIds';
 import shim from '@joplin/lib/shim';
 import Logger from '@joplin/lib/Logger';
+import BackOffHandler from './BackOffHandler';
 const ipcRenderer = require('electron').ipcRenderer;
 
 const logger = Logger.create('PluginRunner');
@@ -83,8 +84,9 @@ function mapEventIdsToHandlers(pluginId: string, arg: any) {
 export default class PluginRunner extends BasePluginRunner {
 
 	protected eventHandlers_: EventHandlers = {};
+	private backOffHandlers_: Record<string, BackOffHandler> = {};
 
-	constructor() {
+	public constructor() {
 		super();
 
 		this.eventHandler = this.eventHandler.bind(this);
@@ -95,7 +97,14 @@ export default class PluginRunner extends BasePluginRunner {
 		return cb(...args);
 	}
 
-	async run(plugin: Plugin, pluginApi: Global) {
+	private backOffHandler(pluginId: string): BackOffHandler {
+		if (!this.backOffHandlers_[pluginId]) {
+			this.backOffHandlers_[pluginId] = new BackOffHandler(pluginId);
+		}
+		return this.backOffHandlers_[pluginId];
+	}
+
+	public async run(plugin: Plugin, pluginApi: Global) {
 		const scriptPath = `${Setting.value('tempDir')}/plugin_${plugin.id}.js`;
 		await shim.fsDriver().writeFile(scriptPath, plugin.scriptText, 'utf8');
 
@@ -148,6 +157,13 @@ export default class PluginRunner extends BasePluginRunner {
 				const debugMappedArgs = fullPath.includes('setHtml') ? '<hidden>' : mappedArgs;
 				logger.debug(`Got message (3): ${fullPath}`, debugMappedArgs);
 
+				try {
+					await this.backOffHandler(plugin.id).wait(fullPath, debugMappedArgs);
+				} catch (error) {
+					logger.error(error);
+					return;
+				}
+
 				let result: any = null;
 				let error: any = null;
 				try {