diff --git a/internal/git/gitpipe/revision.go b/internal/git/gitpipe/revision.go
index 2070130eb8c04a147eaa93cfa492bf9d0d34f463..93a282dd1a04350a2f30c9f7157afb42df9334d4 100644
--- a/internal/git/gitpipe/revision.go
+++ b/internal/git/gitpipe/revision.go
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ type revlistConfig struct {
 	skipResult            func(*RevisionResult) bool
 	skip                  uint
 	paths                 []string
+	maxCount              uint
 }
 
 // RevlistOption is an option for the revlist pipeline step.
@@ -206,6 +207,13 @@ func WithPaths(paths ...string) RevlistOption {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithMaxCount causes git-rev-list(1) to limit the total number of commits.
+func WithMaxCount(p uint) RevlistOption {
+	return func(cfg *revlistConfig) {
+		cfg.maxCount = p
+	}
+}
+
 // Revlist runs git-rev-list(1) with objects and object names enabled. The returned channel will
 // contain all object IDs listed by this command. Cancelling the context will cause the pipeline to
 // be cancelled, too.
@@ -312,6 +320,13 @@ func Revlist(
 			)
 		}
 
+		if cfg.maxCount > 0 {
+			flags = append(flags, gitcmd.Flag{
+				Name: fmt.Sprintf("--max-count=%d", cfg.maxCount),
+			},
+			)
+		}
+
 		var postSepArgs []string
 		if len(cfg.paths) > 0 {
 			postSepArgs = append(postSepArgs, cfg.paths...)
diff --git a/internal/gitaly/service/commit/list_commits.go b/internal/gitaly/service/commit/list_commits.go
index cfb9990a28e723334fa9d4526e81d1e262725eee..6e01e3da67396d08022a6fdea25592fcb6f1398a 100644
--- a/internal/gitaly/service/commit/list_commits.go
+++ b/internal/gitaly/service/commit/list_commits.go
@@ -104,9 +104,11 @@ func (s *server) ListCommits(
 		revlistOptions = append(revlistOptions, gitpipe.WithCommitMessagePatterns(request.GetCommitMessagePatterns()))
 	}
 
+	token := request.GetPaginationParams().GetPageToken()
+
 	// If we've got a pagination token, then we will only start to print commits as soon as
 	// we've seen the token.
-	if token := request.GetPaginationParams().GetPageToken(); token != "" {
+	if token != "" {
 		tokenSeen := false
 		revlistOptions = append(revlistOptions, gitpipe.WithSkipRevlistResult(func(r *gitpipe.RevisionResult) bool {
 			if !tokenSeen {
@@ -120,6 +122,14 @@ func (s *server) ListCommits(
 		}))
 	}
 
+	limit := request.GetPaginationParams().GetLimit()
+
+	// If pagination token is missing but limit is set
+	// Use --max-count option to limit commit results
+	if limit > 0 && len(token) == 0 {
+		revlistOptions = append(revlistOptions, gitpipe.WithMaxCount(uint(limit)))
+	}
+
 	revlistIter := gitpipe.Revlist(ctx, repo, request.GetRevisions(), revlistOptions...)
 
 	catfileObjectIter, err := gitpipe.CatfileObject(ctx, objectReader, revlistIter)
@@ -148,7 +158,6 @@ func (s *server) ListCommits(
 		},
 	})
 
-	limit := request.GetPaginationParams().GetLimit()
 	parser := catfile.NewParser()
 
 	for i := int32(0); catfileObjectIter.Next(); i++ {