diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 9f9a398..75818e4 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const debug = require('debug')('fetch-retry');
 // retry settings
 const MIN_TIMEOUT = 10;
 const MAX_RETRIES = 5;
+const MAX_RETRY_AFTER = 20;
 const FACTOR = 6;
 
 module.exports = exports = setup;
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ function setup(fetch) {
       minTimeout: MIN_TIMEOUT,
       retries: MAX_RETRIES,
       factor: FACTOR,
+      maxRetryAfter: MAX_RETRY_AFTER,
     }, opts.retry);
 
     if (opts.onRetry) {
@@ -38,7 +40,16 @@ function setup(fetch) {
           // this will be retried
           const res = await fetch(url, opts);
           debug('status %d', res.status);
-          if (res.status >= 500 && res.status < 600) {
+          if ((res.status >= 500 && res.status < 600) || res.status === 429) {
+            // NOTE: doesn't support http-date format
+            const retryAfter = parseInt(res.headers.get('retry-after'), 10);
+            if (retryAfter) {
+              if (retryAfter > retryOpts.maxRetryAfter) {
+                return res;
+              } else {
+                await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, retryAfter * 1e3));
+              }
+            }
             throw new ResponseError(res);
           } else {
             return res;
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 907600d..0367ffa 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -19,9 +19,14 @@ module.exports = async () => {
 Make sure to `yarn add @zeit/fetch-retry` in your main package.
 
 Note that you can pass [retry options](https://github.com/zeit/async-retry) to using `opts.retry`.
-We also provide a `opts.onRetry` which is a customized version of `opts.retry.onRetry` and passes
+We also provide a `opts.onRetry` and `opts.retry.maxRetryAfter` options.
+
+`opts.onRetry` is a customized version of `opts.retry.onRetry` and passes
 not only the `error` object in each retry but also the current `opts` object.
 
+`opts.retry.maxRetryAfter` is the max wait time according to the `Retry-After` header.
+If it exceeds the option value, stop retrying and returns the error response. It defaults to `20`.
+
 ## Rationale
 
 Some errors are very common in production (like the underlying `Socket`
@@ -30,7 +35,7 @@ by retrying.
 
 The default behavior of `fetch-retry` is to attempt retries **10**, **60**
 **360**, **2160** and **12960** milliseconds (a total of 5 retries) after
-a *network error* or *5xx* error occur.
+a *network error*, *429* or *5xx* error occur.
 
 The idea is to provide a sensible default: most applications should
 continue to perform correctly with a worst case scenario of a given
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index c7cf577..53dbbac 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -87,3 +87,61 @@ test('accepts a custom onRetry option', async () => {
     server.on('error', reject);
   });
 })
+
+test('handles the Retry-After header', async () => {
+  const server = createServer((req, res) => {
+    res.writeHead(429, { 'Retry-After': 1 });
+    res.end();
+  });
+
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    server.listen(async () => {
+      const {port} = server.address();
+      try {
+        const startedAt = Date.now();
+        const res = await retryFetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${port}`, {
+          retry: {
+            minTimeout: 10,
+            retries: 1
+          }
+        });
+        expect(Date.now() - startedAt).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(1010);
+        resolve();
+      } catch (err) {
+        reject(err);
+      } finally {
+        server.close();
+      }
+    });
+    server.on('error', reject);
+  });
+});
+
+test('stops retrying when the Retry-After header exceeds the maxRetryAfter option', async () => {
+  const server = createServer((req, res) => {
+    res.writeHead(429, { 'Retry-After': 21 });
+    res.end();
+  });
+
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const opts = {
+      onRetry: jest.fn(),
+    }
+
+    server.listen(async () => {
+      const {port} = server.address();
+      try {
+        const startedAt = Date.now();
+        const res = await retryFetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${port}`, opts);
+        expect(opts.onRetry.mock.calls.length).toBe(0);
+        expect(res.status).toBe(429);
+        resolve();
+      } catch (err) {
+        reject(err);
+      } finally {
+        server.close();
+      }
+    });
+    server.on('error', reject);
+  });
+});