diff --git a/etc/object-expirer.conf-sample b/etc/object-expirer.conf-sample
index 4356baf504..44e5743902 100644
--- a/etc/object-expirer.conf-sample
+++ b/etc/object-expirer.conf-sample
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@
 # must be set to at least 1
 # concurrency = 1
 #
+# deletes can be ratelimited to prevent the expirer from overwhelming the cluster
+# tasks_per_second = 50.0
+#
 # processes is how many parts to divide the work into, one part per process
 # that will be doing the work
 # processes set 0 means that a single process will be doing all the work
diff --git a/etc/object-server.conf-sample b/etc/object-server.conf-sample
index 2ddc817dc5..a78a7b043e 100644
--- a/etc/object-server.conf-sample
+++ b/etc/object-server.conf-sample
@@ -518,6 +518,9 @@ use = egg:swift#recon
 # must be set to at least 1
 # concurrency = 1
 #
+# deletes can be ratelimited to prevent the expirer from overwhelming the cluster
+# tasks_per_second = 50.0
+#
 # The expirer will re-attempt expiring if the source object is not available
 # up to reclaim_age seconds before it gives up and deletes the entry in the
 # queue.
diff --git a/swift/obj/expirer.py b/swift/obj/expirer.py
index b041f99c0a..b07544ede4 100644
--- a/swift/obj/expirer.py
+++ b/swift/obj/expirer.py
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ from swift.common.constraints import AUTO_CREATE_ACCOUNT_PREFIX
 from swift.common.daemon import Daemon
 from swift.common.internal_client import InternalClient, UnexpectedResponse
 from swift.common.utils import get_logger, dump_recon_cache, split_path, \
-    Timestamp, config_true_value, normalize_delete_at_timestamp
+    Timestamp, config_true_value, normalize_delete_at_timestamp, \
+    RateLimitedIterator
 from swift.common.http import HTTP_NOT_FOUND, HTTP_CONFLICT, \
     HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED
 from swift.common.swob import wsgi_quote, str_to_wsgi
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ class ObjectExpirer(Daemon):
         self.conf = conf
         self.logger = logger or get_logger(conf, log_route='object-expirer')
         self.interval = int(conf.get('interval') or 300)
+        self.tasks_per_second = float(conf.get('tasks_per_second', 50.0))
 
         self.conf_path = \
             self.conf.get('__file__') or '/etc/swift/object-expirer.conf'
@@ -351,8 +353,10 @@ class ObjectExpirer(Daemon):
                 delete_task_iter = \
                     self.round_robin_order(self.iter_task_to_expire(
                         task_account_container_list, my_index, divisor))
-
-                for delete_task in delete_task_iter:
+                rate_limited_iter = RateLimitedIterator(
+                    delete_task_iter,
+                    elements_per_second=self.tasks_per_second)
+                for delete_task in rate_limited_iter:
                     pool.spawn_n(self.delete_object, **delete_task)
 
             pool.waitall()
diff --git a/test/unit/obj/test_expirer.py b/test/unit/obj/test_expirer.py
index c61cd5d7bf..df1104defa 100644
--- a/test/unit/obj/test_expirer.py
+++ b/test/unit/obj/test_expirer.py
@@ -573,6 +573,28 @@ class TestObjectExpirer(TestCase):
                 'Pass completed in 0s; 10 objects expired',
             ])
 
+    def test_run_once_rate_limited(self):
+        x = expirer.ObjectExpirer(
+            dict(self.conf, tasks_per_second=2),
+            logger=self.logger,
+            swift=self.fake_swift)
+        x.pop_queue = lambda a, c, o: None
+
+        calls = []
+
+        def fake_ratelimiter(iterator, elements_per_second):
+            captured_iter = list(iterator)
+            calls.append((captured_iter, elements_per_second))
+            return captured_iter
+
+        with mock.patch('swift.obj.expirer.RateLimitedIterator',
+                        side_effect=fake_ratelimiter):
+            x.run_once()
+        self.assertEqual(calls, [([
+            self.make_task(self.past_time, target_path)
+            for target_path in self.expired_target_path_list
+        ], 2)])
+
     def test_skip_task_account_without_task_container(self):
         fake_swift = FakeInternalClient({
             # task account has no containers