diff --git a/cmd/context.go b/cmd/context.go
index ee63d10d..3d3578d1 100644
--- a/cmd/context.go
+++ b/cmd/context.go
@@ -143,7 +143,16 @@ func (context *AptlyContext) Progress() aptly.Progress {
 // Downloader returns instance of current downloader
 func (context *AptlyContext) Downloader() aptly.Downloader {
 	if context.downloader == nil {
-		context.downloader = http.NewDownloader(context.Config().DownloadConcurrency, context.Progress())
+		var downloadLimit int64
+		limitFlag := context.flags.Lookup("download-limit")
+		if limitFlag != nil {
+			downloadLimit = limitFlag.Value.Get().(int64)
+		}
+		if downloadLimit == 0 {
+			downloadLimit = context.Config().DownloadLimit
+		}
+		context.downloader = http.NewDownloader(context.Config().DownloadConcurrency,
+			downloadLimit*1024, context.Progress())
 	}
 
 	return context.downloader
diff --git a/cmd/mirror_update.go b/cmd/mirror_update.go
index 494ed9ca..7498e1a4 100644
--- a/cmd/mirror_update.go
+++ b/cmd/mirror_update.go
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ Example:
 
 	cmd.Flag.Bool("ignore-checksums", false, "ignore checksum mismatches while downloading package files and metadata")
 	cmd.Flag.Bool("ignore-signatures", false, "disable verification of Release file signatures")
+	cmd.Flag.Int64("download-limit", 0, "limit download speed (kbytes/sec)")
 	cmd.Flag.Var(&keyRingsFlag{}, "keyring", "gpg keyring to use when verifying Release file (could be specified multiple times)")
 
 	return cmd
diff --git a/man/aptly.1 b/man/aptly.1
index 62398f77..fb83f3ed 100644
--- a/man/aptly.1
+++ b/man/aptly.1
@@ -268,6 +268,10 @@ $ aptly mirror update wheezy\-main
 Options:
 .
 .TP
+\-\fBdownload\-limit\fR=0
+limit download speed (kbytes/sec)
+.
+.TP
 \-\fBignore\-checksums\fR=false
 ignore checksum mismatches while downloading package files and metadata
 .