diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 5d2c9074e..619c52ea5 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -686,8 +686,9 @@ def api_offset_and_limit(options=params)
     limit = options[:limit].to_i
     if limit < 1
       limit = 25
-    elsif limit > 100
-      limit = 100
+    end
+    if limit > Setting.api_limit.to_i
+      limit = Setting.api_limit.to_i
     end
     if offset.nil? && options[:page].present?
       offset = (options[:page].to_i - 1) * limit
diff --git a/app/views/settings/_api.html.erb b/app/views/settings/_api.html.erb
index 6ee401037..ee862f687 100644
--- a/app/views/settings/_api.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/settings/_api.html.erb
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 <p><%= setting_check_box :rest_api_enabled %></p>
 
 <p><%= setting_check_box :jsonp_enabled %></p>
+
+<p><%= setting_text_field :api_limit, :size => 6 %></p>
+
 </div>
 
 <%= submit_tag l(:button_save) %>
diff --git a/config/locales/en.yml b/config/locales/en.yml
index 5fee1e225..9d8128a6b 100644
--- a/config/locales/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/en.yml
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ en:
   setting_host_name: Host name and path
   setting_text_formatting: Text formatting
   setting_wiki_compression: Wiki history compression
+  setting_api_limit: Maximum number of returned items
   setting_feeds_limit: Maximum number of items in Atom feeds
   setting_default_projects_public: New projects are public by default
   setting_autofetch_changesets: Fetch commits automatically
diff --git a/config/settings.yml b/config/settings.yml
index 0c41b7eda..3112eb06c 100644
--- a/config/settings.yml
+++ b/config/settings.yml
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ host_name:
 protocol:
   default: http
   security_notifications: 1
+api_limit:
+  format: int
+  default: 100
 feeds_limit:
   format: int
   default: 15
diff --git a/test/integration/api_test/api_test.rb b/test/integration/api_test/api_test.rb
index b16a50471..e103a94d6 100644
--- a/test/integration/api_test/api_test.rb
+++ b/test/integration/api_test/api_test.rb
@@ -64,4 +64,12 @@ def test_api_with_invalid_format_should_return_406
     assert_response :not_acceptable
     assert_equal "We couldn't handle your request, sorry. If you were trying to access the API, make sure to append .json or .xml to your request URL.\n", response.body
   end
+
+  def test_setting_api_limit_should_limit_response_item_count
+    with_settings :api_limit => 5 do
+      get '/users.xml?limit=5', :headers => credentials('admin')
+      assert_select 'users[type=array][total_count][limit="5"][offset="0"]'
+      assert_select 'users user', 5
+    end
+  end
 end