diff --git a/router/core/graph_server.go b/router/core/graph_server.go
index 0c5b7cd493..fe8bf195e0 100644
--- a/router/core/graph_server.go
+++ b/router/core/graph_server.go
@@ -1179,6 +1179,7 @@ func (s *graphServer) buildGraphMux(ctx context.Context,
 			Debug:               s.rateLimit.Debug,
 			RejectStatusCode:    s.rateLimit.SimpleStrategy.RejectStatusCode,
 			KeySuffixExpression: s.rateLimit.KeySuffixExpression,
+			FailOpen:            s.rateLimit.FailOpen,
 			ExprManager:         exprManager,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/router/core/ratelimiter.go b/router/core/ratelimiter.go
index 0e47f30b60..c997ebab60 100644
--- a/router/core/ratelimiter.go
+++ b/router/core/ratelimiter.go
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	rd "github.com/wundergraph/cosmo/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis"
 	"io"
 	"reflect"
 	"sync"
 
+	rd "github.com/wundergraph/cosmo/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis"
+
 	"github.com/expr-lang/expr/vm"
 	"github.com/go-redis/redis_rate/v10"
 	"github.com/wundergraph/cosmo/router/internal/expr"
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ type CosmoRateLimiterOptions struct {
 	RejectStatusCode int
 
 	KeySuffixExpression string
+	FailOpen bool
 	ExprManager         *expr.Manager
 }
 
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ func NewCosmoRateLimiter(opts *CosmoRateLimiterOptions) (rl *CosmoRateLimiter, e
 		limiter:          limiter,
 		debug:            opts.Debug,
 		rejectStatusCode: opts.RejectStatusCode,
+		failOpen:         opts.FailOpen,
 	}
 	if rl.rejectStatusCode == 0 {
 		rl.rejectStatusCode = 200
@@ -55,10 +58,11 @@ type CosmoRateLimiter struct {
 	client  rd.RDCloser
 	limiter *redis_rate.Limiter
 	debug   bool
-
 	rejectStatusCode int
 
 	keySuffixProgram *vm.Program
+	
+	failOpen bool
 }
 
 func (c *CosmoRateLimiter) RateLimitPreFetch(ctx *resolve.Context, info *resolve.FetchInfo, input json.RawMessage) (result *resolve.RateLimitDeny, err error) {
@@ -72,11 +76,15 @@ func (c *CosmoRateLimiter) RateLimitPreFetch(ctx *resolve.Context, info *resolve
 		Period: ctx.RateLimitOptions.Period,
 	}
 	key, err := c.generateKey(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && c.failOpen{
+		return nil, nil
+	} else if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	allow, err := c.limiter.AllowN(ctx.Context(), key, limit, requestRate)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && c.failOpen{
+		return nil, nil
+	} else if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	c.setRateLimitStats(ctx, key, requestRate, allow.Remaining, allow.RetryAfter.Milliseconds(), allow.ResetAfter.Milliseconds())
diff --git a/router/core/router.go b/router/core/router.go
index 473f61a7f1..4760862c3e 100644
--- a/router/core/router.go
+++ b/router/core/router.go
@@ -798,6 +798,7 @@ func (r *Router) bootstrap(ctx context.Context) error {
 			URLs:           r.Config.rateLimit.Storage.URLs,
 			ClusterEnabled: r.Config.rateLimit.Storage.ClusterEnabled,
 			Logger:         r.logger,
+			FailOpen:       r.Config.rateLimit.FailOpen,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create redis client: %w", err)
@@ -1253,6 +1254,7 @@ func (r *Router) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
 			zap.Int("burst", r.rateLimit.SimpleStrategy.Burst),
 			zap.Duration("duration", r.Config.rateLimit.SimpleStrategy.Period),
 			zap.Bool("rejectExceeding", r.Config.rateLimit.SimpleStrategy.RejectExceedingRequests),
+			zap.Bool("failOpen", r.Config.rateLimit.FailOpen),
 		)
 	}
 
diff --git a/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis/rdcloser.go b/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis/rdcloser.go
index 46fba0f7c0..945317cef7 100644
--- a/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis/rdcloser.go
+++ b/router/internal/persistedoperation/operationstorage/redis/rdcloser.go
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ package rd
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
-	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
 )
 
 // RDCloser is an interface that combines the redis.Cmdable and io.Closer interfaces, ensuring that we can close the
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ type RedisCloserOptions struct {
 	URLs           []string
 	ClusterEnabled bool
 	Password       string
+	FailOpen       bool
 }
 
 func NewRedisCloser(opts *RedisCloserOptions) (RDCloser, error) {
@@ -73,6 +75,10 @@ func NewRedisCloser(opts *RedisCloserOptions) (RDCloser, error) {
 	}
 
 	if isFunctioning, err := IsFunctioningClient(rdb); !isFunctioning {
+		if(opts.FailOpen) {
+			opts.Logger.Warn(fmt.Sprintf("Ratelimit Fail Open activated: redis client is currently not responding with provided URLs: %q", err))
+			return rdb, nil
+		}
 		return rdb, fmt.Errorf("failed to create a functioning redis client with the provided URLs: %w", err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/router/pkg/config/config.go b/router/pkg/config/config.go
index b83f0360ac..e9c4d66e39 100644
--- a/router/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/router/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -473,6 +473,7 @@ type RateLimitConfiguration struct {
 	Debug               bool                        `yaml:"debug" envDefault:"false" env:"RATE_LIMIT_DEBUG"`
 	KeySuffixExpression string                      `yaml:"key_suffix_expression,omitempty" env:"RATE_LIMIT_KEY_SUFFIX_EXPRESSION"`
 	ErrorExtensionCode  RateLimitErrorExtensionCode `yaml:"error_extension_code"`
+	FailOpen            bool                        `yaml:"fail_open" envDefault:"false" env:"RATE_LIMIT_FAIL_OPEN"`
 }
 
 type RateLimitErrorExtensionCode struct {
diff --git a/router/pkg/config/config.schema.json b/router/pkg/config/config.schema.json
index 6fbe8851ec..234d125d3d 100644
--- a/router/pkg/config/config.schema.json
+++ b/router/pkg/config/config.schema.json
@@ -1810,6 +1810,11 @@
               "default": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"
             }
           }
+        },
+        "fail_open": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "description": "Enable Rate Limit fail open on redis availability failure. This interacts with Redis timeout configuration parameters, essentially adding to each requests latency in failure.",
+          "default": false
         }
       }
     },
diff --git a/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_defaults.json b/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_defaults.json
index 2501daddae..782aae49e1 100644
--- a/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_defaults.json
+++ b/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_defaults.json
@@ -248,7 +248,8 @@
     "ErrorExtensionCode": {
       "Enabled": true,
       "Code": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"
-    }
+    },
+    "FailOpen": false
   },
   "LocalhostFallbackInsideDocker": true,
   "CDN": {
diff --git a/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_full.json b/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_full.json
index 7869972aef..69cbe74895 100644
--- a/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_full.json
+++ b/router/pkg/config/testdata/config_full.json
@@ -503,7 +503,8 @@
     "ErrorExtensionCode": {
       "Enabled": true,
       "Code": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"
-    }
+    },
+    "FailOpen": false
   },
   "LocalhostFallbackInsideDocker": true,
   "CDN": {