diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 4b814a87..822d5ba2 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ In development
   by models. (`#551`_)
 - Raise the correct error when a model has a table name but no primary key.
   (`#556`_)
+- Allow specifying a ``max_per_page`` limit for pagination, to avoid users
+  specifying high values in the request args. (`#542`_)
 
+.. _#542: https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask-sqlalchemy/pull/542
 .. _#551: https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask-sqlalchemy/pull/551
 .. _#556: https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask-sqlalchemy/pull/556
 
diff --git a/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py b/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py
index d02220b5..b18c1b1f 100644
--- a/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py
+++ b/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ def first_or_404(self):
             abort(404)
         return rv
 
-    def paginate(self, page=None, per_page=None, error_out=True):
+    def paginate(self, page=None, per_page=None, error_out=True, max_per_page=None):
         """Returns ``per_page`` items from page ``page``.
 
         If no items are found and ``page`` is greater than 1, or if page is
@@ -469,6 +469,9 @@ def paginate(self, page=None, per_page=None, error_out=True):
             if per_page is None:
                 per_page = 20
 
+        if max_per_page is not None:
+            per_page = min(per_page, max_per_page)
+
         if error_out and page < 1:
             abort(404)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_pagination.py b/tests/test_pagination.py
index e80fb3e9..20d8ad1e 100644
--- a/tests/test_pagination.py
+++ b/tests/test_pagination.py
@@ -41,3 +41,11 @@ def index():
         # query default
         p = Todo.query.paginate()
         assert p.total == 100
+
+
+def test_query_paginate_more_than_20(app, db, Todo):
+    with app.app_context():
+        db.session.add_all(Todo('', '') for _ in range(20))
+        db.session.commit()
+
+    assert len(Todo.query.paginate(max_per_page=10).items) == 10