diff --git a/app/vmselect/main.go b/app/vmselect/main.go
index 1c6cb940a..305149a58 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/main.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/main.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmselect/graphite"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmselect/prometheus"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmselect/promql"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmselect/searchutils"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmstorage"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/httpserver"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ var (
 	deleteAuthKey         = flag.String("deleteAuthKey", "", "authKey for metrics' deletion via /api/v1/admin/tsdb/delete_series")
 	maxConcurrentRequests = flag.Int("search.maxConcurrentRequests", getDefaultMaxConcurrentRequests(), "The maximum number of concurrent search requests. "+
 		"It shouldn't be high, since a single request can saturate all the CPU cores. See also -search.maxQueueDuration")
-	maxQueueDuration  = flag.Duration("search.maxQueueDuration", 10*time.Second, "The maximum time the request waits for execution when -search.maxConcurrentRequests limit is reached")
+	maxQueueDuration = flag.Duration("search.maxQueueDuration", 10*time.Second, "The maximum time the request waits for execution when -search.maxConcurrentRequests "+
+		"limit is reached; see also -search.maxQueryDuration")
 	resetCacheAuthKey = flag.String("search.resetCacheAuthKey", "", "Optional authKey for resetting rollup cache via /internal/resetRollupResultCache call")
 )
 
@@ -77,7 +79,11 @@ func RequestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 	default:
 		// Sleep for a while until giving up. This should resolve short bursts in requests.
 		concurrencyLimitReached.Inc()
-		t := timerpool.Get(*maxQueueDuration)
+		d := searchutils.GetMaxQueryDuration(r)
+		if d > *maxQueueDuration {
+			d = *maxQueueDuration
+		}
+		t := timerpool.Get(d)
 		select {
 		case concurrencyCh <- struct{}{}:
 			timerpool.Put(t)
@@ -87,8 +93,9 @@ func RequestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 			concurrencyLimitTimeout.Inc()
 			err := &httpserver.ErrorWithStatusCode{
 				Err: fmt.Errorf("cannot handle more than %d concurrent search requests during %s; possible solutions: "+
-					"increase `-search.maxQueueDuration`, increase `-search.maxConcurrentRequests`, increase server capacity",
-					*maxConcurrentRequests, *maxQueueDuration),
+					"increase `-search.maxQueueDuration`; increase `-search.maxQueryDuration`; increase `-search.maxConcurrentRequests`; "+
+					"increase server capacity",
+					*maxConcurrentRequests, d),
 				StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
 			}
 			httpserver.Errorf(w, r, "%s", err)
diff --git a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
index 19e453306..85e0a4688 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
@@ -104,6 +104,19 @@ func GetDuration(r *http.Request, argKey string, defaultValue int64) (int64, err
 
 const maxDurationMsecs = 100 * 365 * 24 * 3600 * 1000
 
+// GetMaxQueryDuration returns the maximum duration for query from r.
+func GetMaxQueryDuration(r *http.Request) time.Duration {
+	dms, err := GetDuration(r, "timeout", 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		dms = 0
+	}
+	d := time.Duration(dms) * time.Millisecond
+	if d <= 0 || d > *maxQueryDuration {
+		d = *maxQueryDuration
+	}
+	return d
+}
+
 // GetDeadlineForQuery returns deadline for the given query r.
 func GetDeadlineForQuery(r *http.Request, startTime time.Time) Deadline {
 	dMax := maxQueryDuration.Milliseconds()