diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 772876799..4d0a518a5 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 * Enable frozen string literals [#7595](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/7595)
 * Remove `rails_admin_histories` table [#7597](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/7597)
 * Optimize memory usage on profile export [#7627](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/7627)
+* Limit the number of parallel exports [#7629](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/7629)
 
 ## Bug fixes
 * Fix displaying polls with long answers [#7579](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/7579)
diff --git a/app/workers/export_user.rb b/app/workers/export_user.rb
index b73535d17..247b8a6e3 100644
--- a/app/workers/export_user.rb
+++ b/app/workers/export_user.rb
@@ -4,12 +4,25 @@
 #   licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 or later.  See
 #   the COPYRIGHT file.
 
-
 module Workers
   class ExportUser < Base
     sidekiq_options queue: :low
 
+    include Diaspora::Logging
+
     def perform(user_id)
+      if currently_running_exports >= AppConfig.settings.export_concurrency.to_i
+        logger.info "Already the maximum number of parallel user exports running, " \
+                    "scheduling export for User:#{user_id} in 5 minutes."
+        self.class.perform_in(5.minutes + rand(30), user_id)
+      else
+        export_user(user_id)
+      end
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    def export_user(user_id)
       @user = User.find(user_id)
       @user.perform_export!
 
@@ -19,5 +32,13 @@ module Workers
         ExportMailer.export_failure_for(@user).deliver_now
       end
     end
+
+    def currently_running_exports
+      return 0 if AppConfig.environment.single_process_mode?
+      Sidekiq::Workers.new.count do |process_id, thread_id, work|
+        !(Process.pid.to_s == process_id.split(":")[1] && Thread.current.object_id.to_s(36) == thread_id) &&
+          work["payload"]["class"] == self.class.to_s
+      end
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/config/defaults.yml b/config/defaults.yml
index c28ef2696..38277b295 100644
--- a/config/defaults.yml
+++ b/config/defaults.yml
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ defaults:
       suggest_email:
     typhoeus_verbose: false
     typhoeus_concurrency: 20
+    export_concurrency: 1
     username_blacklist:
       - 'admin'
       - 'administrator'
diff --git a/config/diaspora.yml.example b/config/diaspora.yml.example
index b2573625d..d52378c29 100644
--- a/config/diaspora.yml.example
+++ b/config/diaspora.yml.example
@@ -455,6 +455,11 @@ configuration: ## Section
     ## of your Sidekiq workers.
     #typhoeus_concurrency: 20
 
+    ## Maximum number of parallel user data export jobs (default=1)
+    ## Be careful, exports of big/old profiles can use a lot of memory, running
+    ## many of them in parallel can be a problem for small servers.
+    #export_concurrency: 1
+
     ## Captcha settings
     captcha: ## Section
 
diff --git a/spec/workers/export_user_spec.rb b/spec/workers/export_user_spec.rb
index 72b0c341f..e72410149 100644
--- a/spec/workers/export_user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/workers/export_user_spec.rb
@@ -22,4 +22,68 @@ describe Workers::ExportUser do
     expect(ExportMailer).to receive(:export_failure_for).with(alice).and_call_original
     Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
   end
+
+  context "concurrency" do
+    before do
+      AppConfig.environment.single_process_mode = false
+      AppConfig.settings.export_concurrency = 1
+    end
+
+    after :all do
+      AppConfig.environment.single_process_mode = true
+    end
+
+    let(:pid) { "#{Socket.gethostname}:#{Process.pid}:#{SecureRandom.hex(6)}" }
+
+    it "schedules a job for later when already another parallel export job is running" do
+      expect(Sidekiq::Workers).to receive(:new).and_return(
+        [[pid, SecureRandom.hex(4), {"payload" => {"class" => "Workers::ExportUser"}}]]
+      )
+
+      expect(Workers::ExportUser).to receive(:perform_in).with(kind_of(Integer), alice.id)
+      expect(alice).not_to receive(:perform_export!)
+
+      Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
+    end
+
+    it "runs the export when the own running job" do
+      expect(Sidekiq::Workers).to receive(:new).and_return(
+        [[pid, Thread.current.object_id.to_s(36), {"payload" => {"class" => "Workers::ExportUser"}}]]
+      )
+
+      expect(Workers::ExportUser).not_to receive(:perform_in).with(kind_of(Integer), alice.id)
+      expect(alice).to receive(:perform_export!)
+
+      Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
+    end
+
+    it "runs the export when no other job is running" do
+      expect(Sidekiq::Workers).to receive(:new).and_return([])
+
+      expect(Workers::ExportUser).not_to receive(:perform_in).with(kind_of(Integer), alice.id)
+      expect(alice).to receive(:perform_export!)
+
+      Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
+    end
+
+    it "runs the export when some other job is running" do
+      expect(Sidekiq::Workers).to receive(:new).and_return(
+        [[pid, SecureRandom.hex(4), {"payload" => {"class" => "Workers::OtherJob"}}]]
+      )
+
+      expect(Workers::ExportUser).not_to receive(:perform_in).with(kind_of(Integer), alice.id)
+      expect(alice).to receive(:perform_export!)
+
+      Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
+    end
+
+    it "runs the export when diaspora is in single process mode" do
+      AppConfig.environment.single_process_mode = true
+      expect(Sidekiq::Workers).not_to receive(:new)
+      expect(Workers::ExportUser).not_to receive(:perform_in).with(kind_of(Integer), alice.id)
+      expect(alice).to receive(:perform_export!)
+
+      Workers::ExportUser.new.perform(alice.id)
+    end
+  end
 end