diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a536628..a4d9752 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,13 +45,17 @@ The syntax is similar to that of _scp_
 Usage:
   btrfs-sync [options] <src> [<src>...] [[user@]host:]<dir>
 
-  -k|--keep NUM     keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
-  -d|--delete       delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
-  -z|--xz           use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
-  -Z|--pbzip2       use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
-  -q|--quiet        don't display progress
-  -v|--verbose      display more information
-  -h|--help         show usage
+  -k|--keep NUM          keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
+  -d|--delete            delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
+  -z|--xz                use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
+  -Z|--pbzip2            use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
+  -p|--port              SSH port. Default 22
+  -L|--rate-limit RATE   limit the transfer to a maximum of RATE bytes per second.
+                         A suffix of \"K\", \"M\", \"G\", or \"T\" can be added to denote
+                         kibibytes (*1024), mebibytes, and so on.
+  -q|--quiet             don't display progress
+  -v|--verbose           display more information
+  -h|--help              show usage
 
 <src> can either be a single snapshot, or a folder containing snapshots
 <user> requires privileged permissions at <host> for the 'btrfs' command
diff --git a/btrfs-sync b/btrfs-sync
index 3179177..1db097e 100644
--- a/btrfs-sync
+++ b/btrfs-sync
@@ -7,13 +7,16 @@
 # Usage:
 #  btrfs-sync [options] <src> [<src>...] [[user@]host:]<dir>
 #
-#  -k|--keep NUM     keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
-#  -d|--delete       delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
-#  -z|--xz           use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
-#  -Z|--pbzip2       use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
-#  -q|--quiet        don't display progress
-#  -v|--verbose      display more information
-#  -h|--help         show usage
+#  -k|--keep NUM          keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
+#  -d|--delete            delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
+#  -z|--xz                use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
+#  -Z|--pbzip2            use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
+#  -L|--rate-limit RATE   limit the transfer to a maximum of RATE bytes per second.
+#                         A suffix of "K", "M", "G", or "T" can be added to denote
+#                         kibibytes (*1024), mebibytes, and so on.
+#  -q|--quiet             don't display progress
+#  -v|--verbose           display more information
+#  -h|--help              show usage
 #
 # <src> can either be a single snapshot, or a folder containing snapshots
 # <user> requires privileged permissions at <host> for the 'btrfs' command
@@ -39,14 +42,17 @@ print_usage() {
   echo "Usage:
   $BIN [options] [[user@]host:]<src> [<src>...] [[user@]host:]<dir>
 
-  -k|--keep NUM     keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
-  -d|--delete       delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
-  -z|--xz           use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
-  -Z|--pbzip2       use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
-  -p|--port         SSH port. Default 22
-  -q|--quiet        don't display progress
-  -v|--verbose      display more information
-  -h|--help         show usage
+  -k|--keep NUM          keep only last <NUM> sync'ed snapshots
+  -d|--delete            delete snapshots in <dst> that don't exist in <src>
+  -z|--xz                use xz     compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses one CPU
+  -Z|--pbzip2            use pbzip2 compression. Saves bandwidth, but uses all CPUs
+  -p|--port              SSH port. Default 22
+  -L|--rate-limit RATE   limit the transfer to a maximum of RATE bytes per second.
+                         A suffix of \"K\", \"M\", \"G\", or \"T\" can be added to denote
+                         kibibytes (*1024), mebibytes, and so on.
+  -q|--quiet             don't display progress
+  -v|--verbose           display more information
+  -h|--help              show usage
 
 <src> can either be a single snapshot, or a folder containing snapshots
 <user> requires privileged permissions at <host> for the 'btrfs' command
@@ -73,23 +79,25 @@ BIN="${0##*/}"
 # parse arguments
 KEEP=0
 PORT=22
+LIMIT=0
 ZIP=cat PIZ=cat
 SILENT=">/dev/null"
 
-OPTS=$( getopt -o hqzZk:p:dv -l quiet -l help -l xz -l pbzip2 -l keep: -l port: -l delete -l verbose -- "$@" 2>/dev/null )
+OPTS=$( getopt -o hqzZk:p:L:dv -l quiet -l help -l xz -l pbzip2 -l keep: -l port: -l rate-limit: -l delete -l verbose -- "$@" 2>/dev/null )
 [[ $? -ne 0 ]] && { echo "error parsing arguments"; exit 1; }
 eval set -- "$OPTS"
 
 while true; do
   case "$1" in
-    -h|--help   ) print_usage; exit  0 ;;
-    -q|--quiet  ) QUIET=1    ; shift 1 ;;
-    -d|--delete ) DELETE=1   ; shift 1 ;;
-    -k|--keep   ) KEEP=$2    ; shift 2 ;;
-    -p|--port   ) PORT=$2    ; shift 2 ;;
-    -z|--xz     ) ZIP=xz     PIZ=( xz     -d ); shift 1 ;;
-    -Z|--pbzip2 ) ZIP=pbzip2 PIZ=( pbzip2 -d ); shift 1 ;;
-    -v|--verbose) SILENT=""  VERBOSE=1        ; shift 1 ;;
+    -h|--help       ) print_usage; exit  0 ;;
+    -q|--quiet      ) QUIET=1    ; shift 1 ;;
+    -d|--delete     ) DELETE=1   ; shift 1 ;;
+    -k|--keep       ) KEEP=$2    ; shift 2 ;;
+    -p|--port       ) PORT=$2    ; shift 2 ;;
+    -z|--xz         ) ZIP=xz     PIZ=( xz     -d ); shift 1 ;;
+    -Z|--pbzip2     ) ZIP=pbzip2 PIZ=( pbzip2 -d ); shift 1 ;;
+    -L|--rate-limit ) LIMIT=$2   ; shift 2 ;;
+    -v|--verbose    ) SILENT=""  VERBOSE=1        ; shift 1 ;;
     --)                shift;  break   ;;
   esac
 done
@@ -162,7 +170,7 @@ while read entry; do SRCS+=( "$entry" ); done < <(
 }
 
 ## use 'pv' command if available
-PV=( pv -F"time elapsed [%t] | rate %r | total size [%b]" )
+PV=( pv -L "$LIMIT" -F"time elapsed [%t] | rate %r | total size [%b]" )
 [[ "$QUIET" == "1" ]] && PV=( cat ) || type pv &>/dev/null || {
   echo "INFO: install the 'pv' package in order to get a progress indicator"
   PV=( cat )