diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiter.java b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiter.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..100296fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package org.raddatz.familienarchiv.search;
+
+import com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.Caffeine;
+import com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.LoadingCache;
+import io.github.bucket4j.Bandwidth;
+import io.github.bucket4j.Bucket;
+import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.exception.DomainException;
+import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.exception.ErrorCode;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
+
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+@Service
+public class NlSearchRateLimiter {
+
+    private final LoadingCache<String, Bucket> byUser;
+    private final int maxRequestsPerMinute;
+
+    public NlSearchRateLimiter(NlSearchRateLimitProperties props) {
+        this.maxRequestsPerMinute = props.getMaxRequestsPerMinute();
+        this.byUser = Caffeine.newBuilder()
+                .expireAfterAccess(1, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
+                .build(key -> newBucket(maxRequestsPerMinute));
+    }
+
+    public void checkAndConsume(String userKey) {
+        if (!byUser.get(userKey).tryConsume(1)) {
+            throw DomainException.tooManyRequests(ErrorCode.SMART_SEARCH_RATE_LIMITED,
+                    "NL search rate limit exceeded for user: " + userKey, 60L);
+        }
+    }
+
+    void resetForTest() {
+        byUser.invalidateAll();
+    }
+
+    private static Bucket newBucket(int limit) {
+        return Bucket.builder()
+                .addLimit(Bandwidth.builder()
+                        .capacity(limit)
+                        .refillGreedy(limit, Duration.ofMinutes(1))
+                        .build())
+                .build();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiterTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43a2bbe0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/search/NlSearchRateLimiterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package org.raddatz.familienarchiv.search;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.exception.DomainException;
+import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.exception.ErrorCode;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatCode;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
+
+class NlSearchRateLimiterTest {
+
+    private NlSearchRateLimiter rateLimiter;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void setUp() {
+        NlSearchRateLimitProperties props = new NlSearchRateLimitProperties();
+        props.setMaxRequestsPerMinute(5);
+        rateLimiter = new NlSearchRateLimiter(props);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void checkAndConsume_allowsRequestsWithinLimit() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+            assertThatCode(() -> rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("user@example.com"))
+                    .doesNotThrowAnyException();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void checkAndConsume_throwsRateLimited_onSixthRequest() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+            rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("user@example.com");
+        }
+
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("user@example.com"))
+                .isInstanceOf(DomainException.class)
+                .extracting(e -> ((DomainException) e).getCode())
+                .isEqualTo(ErrorCode.SMART_SEARCH_RATE_LIMITED);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void checkAndConsume_limitsAreIndependentPerUser() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+            rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("alice@example.com");
+        }
+        assertThatCode(() -> rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("bob@example.com"))
+                .doesNotThrowAnyException();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void resetForTest_clearsAllBuckets() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+            rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("user@example.com");
+        }
+
+        rateLimiter.resetForTest();
+
+        assertThatCode(() -> rateLimiter.checkAndConsume("user@example.com"))
+                .doesNotThrowAnyException();
+    }
+}