diff --git a/clients/cmd/promtail/promtail-local-limit-config.yaml b/clients/cmd/promtail/promtail-local-limit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..935721b4b608a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/cmd/promtail/promtail-local-limit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+server:
+  http_listen_port: 9080
+  grpc_listen_port: 0
+
+positions:
+  filename: /tmp/positions.yaml
+
+clients:
+  - url: http://localhost:3100/loki/api/v1/push
+
+scrape_configs:
+- job_name: system
+  static_configs:
+  - targets:
+      - localhost
+    labels:
+      job: varlogs
+      __path__: /var/log/*log
+
+limit_config:
+  readline_rate: 100
+  readline_burst: 200
diff --git a/clients/pkg/logentry/stages/pipeline.go b/clients/pkg/logentry/stages/pipeline.go
index fa2968aaa6aa9..412d514fb1398 100644
--- a/clients/pkg/logentry/stages/pipeline.go
+++ b/clients/pkg/logentry/stages/pipeline.go
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 package stages
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/go-kit/log"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/clients/pkg/promtail/api"
 )
@@ -16,11 +18,16 @@ type PipelineStages = []interface{}
 // PipelineStage contains configuration for a single pipeline stage
 type PipelineStage = map[interface{}]interface{}
 
+var rateLimiter *rate.Limiter
+var rateLimiterDrop bool
+var rateLimiterDropReason = "global_rate_limiter_drop"
+
 // Pipeline pass down a log entry to each stage for mutation and/or label extraction.
 type Pipeline struct {
-	logger  log.Logger
-	stages  []Stage
-	jobName *string
+	logger    log.Logger
+	stages    []Stage
+	jobName   *string
+	dropCount *prometheus.CounterVec
 }
 
 // NewPipeline creates a new log entry pipeline from a configuration
@@ -48,9 +55,10 @@ func NewPipeline(logger log.Logger, stgs PipelineStages, jobName *string, regist
 		}
 	}
 	return &Pipeline{
-		logger:  log.With(logger, "component", "pipeline"),
-		stages:  st,
-		jobName: jobName,
+		logger:    log.With(logger, "component", "pipeline"),
+		stages:    st,
+		jobName:   jobName,
+		dropCount: getDropCountMetric(registerer),
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -99,6 +107,16 @@ func (p *Pipeline) Wrap(next api.EntryHandler) api.EntryHandler {
 	go func() {
 		defer wg.Done()
 		for e := range pipelineOut {
+			if rateLimiter != nil {
+				if rateLimiterDrop {
+					if !rateLimiter.Allow() {
+						p.dropCount.WithLabelValues(rateLimiterDropReason).Inc()
+						continue
+					}
+				} else {
+					_ = rateLimiter.Wait(context.Background())
+				}
+			}
 			nextChan <- e.Entry
 		}
 	}()
@@ -122,3 +140,8 @@ func (p *Pipeline) Wrap(next api.EntryHandler) api.EntryHandler {
 func (p *Pipeline) Size() int {
 	return len(p.stages)
 }
+
+func SetReadLineRateLimiter(rateVal float64, burstVal int, drop bool) {
+	rateLimiter = rate.NewLimiter(rate.Limit(rateVal), burstVal)
+	rateLimiterDrop = drop
+}
diff --git a/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config.go b/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config.go
index 90bd3344c6e39..53426b2eeac2a 100644
--- a/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config.go
+++ b/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/loki/clients/pkg/promtail/limit"
 	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/clients/pkg/promtail/client"
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	PositionsConfig positions.Config      `yaml:"positions,omitempty"`
 	ScrapeConfig    []scrapeconfig.Config `yaml:"scrape_configs,omitempty"`
 	TargetConfig    file.Config           `yaml:"target_config,omitempty"`
+	LimitConfig     limit.Config          `yaml:"limit_config,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // RegisterFlags with prefix registers flags where every name is prefixed by
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ func (c *Config) RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix string, f *flag.FlagSet) {
 	c.ClientConfig.RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix, f)
 	c.PositionsConfig.RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix, f)
 	c.TargetConfig.RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix, f)
+	c.LimitConfig.RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix, f)
 }
 
 // RegisterFlags registers flags.
diff --git a/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config_test.go b/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config_test.go
index 661b7b96ae845..6c02f38747283 100644
--- a/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config_test.go
+++ b/clients/pkg/promtail/config/config_test.go
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ scrape_configs:
       - localhost
       labels:
         job: varlogs
+limit_config:
+  readline_rate: 100
+  readline_burst: 200
 `
 
 func Test_Load(t *testing.T) {
@@ -41,6 +44,15 @@ func Test_Load(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Nil(t, err)
 }
 
+func Test_RateLimitLoad(t *testing.T) {
+	var dst Config
+	err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(testFile), &dst)
+	require.Nil(t, err)
+	config := dst.LimitConfig
+	require.Equal(t, float64(100), config.ReadlineRate)
+	require.Equal(t, 200, config.ReadlineBurst)
+}
+
 func TestConfig_Setup(t *testing.T) {
 	for i, tt := range []struct {
 		in       Config
diff --git a/clients/pkg/promtail/limit/config.go b/clients/pkg/promtail/limit/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6ecef6fdd523e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clients/pkg/promtail/limit/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package limit
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+)
+
+type Config struct {
+	ReadlineRate        float64 `yaml:"readline_rate" json:"readline_rate"`
+	ReadlineBurst       int     `yaml:"readline_burst" json:"readline_burst"`
+	ReadlineRateEnabled bool    `yaml:"readline_rate_enabled,omitempty"  json:"readline_rate_enabled"`
+	ReadlineRateDrop    bool    `yaml:"readline_rate_drop,omitempty"  json:"readline_rate_drop"`
+}
+
+func (cfg *Config) RegisterFlagsWithPrefix(prefix string, f *flag.FlagSet) {
+	f.Float64Var(&cfg.ReadlineRate, prefix+"limit.readline-rate", 10000, "promtail readline Rate.")
+	f.IntVar(&cfg.ReadlineBurst, prefix+"limit.readline-burst", 10000, "promtail readline Burst.")
+	f.BoolVar(&cfg.ReadlineRateEnabled, prefix+"limit.readline-rate-enabled", false, "Set to false to disable readline rate limit.")
+	f.BoolVar(&cfg.ReadlineRateDrop, prefix+"limit.readline-rate-drop", true, "Set to true to drop log when rate limit.")
+}
diff --git a/clients/pkg/promtail/promtail.go b/clients/pkg/promtail/promtail.go
index e058a24d74da1..b8f285af465c5 100644
--- a/clients/pkg/promtail/promtail.go
+++ b/clients/pkg/promtail/promtail.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 
 	util_log "github.com/cortexproject/cortex/pkg/util/log"
 	"github.com/go-kit/log"
+	"github.com/grafana/loki/clients/pkg/logentry/stages"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/loki/clients/pkg/promtail/client"
@@ -57,6 +58,9 @@ func New(cfg config.Config, dryRun bool, opts ...Option) (*Promtail, error) {
 
 	cfg.Setup()
 
+	if cfg.LimitConfig.ReadlineRateEnabled {
+		stages.SetReadLineRateLimiter(cfg.LimitConfig.ReadlineRate, cfg.LimitConfig.ReadlineBurst, cfg.LimitConfig.ReadlineRateDrop)
+	}
 	var err error
 	if dryRun {
 		promtail.client, err = client.NewLogger(prometheus.DefaultRegisterer, promtail.logger, cfg.ClientConfigs...)