diff --git a/meilisearch-http/tests/search/mod.rs b/meilisearch-http/tests/search/mod.rs
index 7c7924c34..eab8f0a87 100644
--- a/meilisearch-http/tests/search/mod.rs
+++ b/meilisearch-http/tests/search/mod.rs
@@ -267,3 +267,79 @@ async fn displayed_attributes() {
     assert_eq!(code, 200, "{}", response);
     assert!(response["hits"].get("title").is_none());
 }
+
+#[actix_rt::test]
+async fn placeholder_search_is_hard_limited() {
+    let server = Server::new().await;
+    let index = server.index("test");
+
+    let documents: Vec<_> = (0..1200)
+        .map(|i| json!({ "id": i, "text": "I am unique!" }))
+        .collect();
+    index.add_documents(documents.into(), None).await;
+    index.wait_task(0).await;
+
+    index
+        .search(
+            json!({
+                "limit": 1500,
+            }),
+            |response, code| {
+                assert_eq!(code, 200, "{}", response);
+                assert_eq!(response["hits"].as_array().unwrap().len(), 1000);
+            },
+        )
+        .await;
+
+    index
+        .search(
+            json!({
+                "offset": 800,
+                "limit": 400,
+            }),
+            |response, code| {
+                assert_eq!(code, 200, "{}", response);
+                assert_eq!(response["hits"].as_array().unwrap().len(), 200);
+            },
+        )
+        .await;
+}
+
+#[actix_rt::test]
+async fn search_is_hard_limited() {
+    let server = Server::new().await;
+    let index = server.index("test");
+
+    let documents: Vec<_> = (0..1200)
+        .map(|i| json!({ "id": i, "text": "I am unique!" }))
+        .collect();
+    index.add_documents(documents.into(), None).await;
+    index.wait_task(0).await;
+
+    index
+        .search(
+            json!({
+                "q": "unique",
+                "limit": 1500,
+            }),
+            |response, code| {
+                assert_eq!(code, 200, "{}", response);
+                assert_eq!(response["hits"].as_array().unwrap().len(), 1000);
+            },
+        )
+        .await;
+
+    index
+        .search(
+            json!({
+                "q": "unique",
+                "offset": 800,
+                "limit": 400,
+            }),
+            |response, code| {
+                assert_eq!(code, 200, "{}", response);
+                assert_eq!(response["hits"].as_array().unwrap().len(), 200);
+            },
+        )
+        .await;
+}
diff --git a/meilisearch-lib/src/index/search.rs b/meilisearch-lib/src/index/search.rs
index 644b75468..1498b70bd 100644
--- a/meilisearch-lib/src/index/search.rs
+++ b/meilisearch-lib/src/index/search.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use std::cmp::min;
 use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet, HashSet};
 use std::str::FromStr;
 use std::time::Instant;
@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@ pub const fn default_crop_length() -> usize {
     DEFAULT_CROP_LENGTH
 }
 
+/// The maximimum number of results that the engine
+/// will be able to return in one search call.
+pub const HARD_RESULT_LIMIT: usize = 1000;
+
 #[derive(Deserialize, Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase", deny_unknown_fields)]
 pub struct SearchQuery {
@@ -97,8 +102,13 @@ impl Index {
             search.query(query);
         }
 
-        search.limit(query.limit);
-        search.offset(query.offset.unwrap_or_default());
+        // Make sure that a user can't get more documents than the hard limit,
+        // we align that on the offset too.
+        let offset = min(query.offset.unwrap_or(0), HARD_RESULT_LIMIT);
+        let limit = min(query.limit, HARD_RESULT_LIMIT.saturating_sub(offset));
+
+        search.offset(offset);
+        search.limit(limit);
 
         if let Some(ref filter) = query.filter {
             if let Some(facets) = parse_filter(filter)? {