diff --git a/rafthttp/peer.go b/rafthttp/peer.go
index a82d7beed74..394998514ec 100644
--- a/rafthttp/peer.go
+++ b/rafthttp/peer.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/raft/raftpb"
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/snap"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -198,6 +199,13 @@ func startPeer(transport *Transport, urls types.URLs, peerID types.ID, fs *stats
 		recvc:  p.recvc,
 		propc:  p.propc,
 	}
+
+	if transport.DialRetryTimeout != 0 {
+		limit := rate.Every(transport.DialRetryTimeout)
+		p.msgAppV2Reader.rl = rate.NewLimiter(limit, 1)
+		p.msgAppReader.rl = rate.NewLimiter(limit, 1)
+	}
+
 	p.msgAppV2Reader.start()
 	p.msgAppReader.start()
 
diff --git a/rafthttp/stream.go b/rafthttp/stream.go
index 2a6c620f56d..2f53562d05e 100644
--- a/rafthttp/stream.go
+++ b/rafthttp/stream.go
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
+
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/etcdserver/stats"
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/httputil"
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/transport"
@@ -278,6 +280,8 @@ type streamReader struct {
 	recvc  chan<- raftpb.Message
 	propc  chan<- raftpb.Message
 
+	rl *rate.Limiter // alters the frequency of dial retrial attempts
+
 	errorc chan<- error
 
 	mu     sync.Mutex
@@ -289,14 +293,21 @@ type streamReader struct {
 	done  chan struct{}
 }
 
-func (r *streamReader) start() {
-	r.stopc = make(chan struct{})
-	r.done = make(chan struct{})
-	if r.errorc == nil {
-		r.errorc = r.tr.ErrorC
+func (cr *streamReader) start() {
+	cr.stopc = make(chan struct{})
+	cr.done = make(chan struct{})
+	if cr.errorc == nil {
+		cr.errorc = cr.tr.ErrorC
+	}
+
+	if cr.rl == nil {
+		// If client didn't provide rate limiter, use the default which will
+		// wait 100ms to create a new stream, so it doesn't bring too much
+		// overhead when retry.
+		cr.rl = rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1)
 	}
 
-	go r.run()
+	go cr.run()
 }
 
 func (cr *streamReader) run() {
@@ -323,13 +334,15 @@ func (cr *streamReader) run() {
 			}
 		}
 		select {
-		// Wait 100ms to create a new stream, so it doesn't bring too much
-		// overhead when retry.
-		case <-time.After(100 * time.Millisecond):
 		case <-cr.stopc:
 			plog.Infof("stopped streaming with peer %s (%s reader)", cr.peerID, t)
 			close(cr.done)
 			return
+		default:
+			// wait for a while before new dial attempt
+			if err := cr.rl.Wait(context.TODO()); err != nil {
+				plog.Errorf("streaming with peer %s (%s reader) rate limiter error: %v", cr.peerID, t, err)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/rafthttp/stream_test.go b/rafthttp/stream_test.go
index f48714e7c57..a8985d86b85 100644
--- a/rafthttp/stream_test.go
+++ b/rafthttp/stream_test.go
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
+
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/etcdserver/stats"
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/testutil"
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/types"
@@ -113,6 +115,7 @@ func TestStreamReaderDialRequest(t *testing.T) {
 			peerID: types.ID(2),
 			tr:     &Transport{streamRt: tr, ClusterID: types.ID(1), ID: types.ID(1)},
 			picker: mustNewURLPicker(t, []string{"http://localhost:2380"}),
+			rl:     rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1),
 		}
 		sr.dial(tt)
 
@@ -167,6 +170,7 @@ func TestStreamReaderDialResult(t *testing.T) {
 			tr:     &Transport{streamRt: tr, ClusterID: types.ID(1)},
 			picker: mustNewURLPicker(t, []string{"http://localhost:2380"}),
 			errorc: make(chan error, 1),
+			rl:     rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1),
 		}
 
 		_, err := sr.dial(streamTypeMessage)
@@ -192,6 +196,7 @@ func TestStreamReaderStopOnDial(t *testing.T) {
 		errorc: make(chan error, 1),
 		typ:    streamTypeMessage,
 		status: newPeerStatus(types.ID(2)),
+		rl:     rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1),
 	}
 	tr.onResp = func() {
 		// stop() waits for the run() goroutine to exit, but that exit
@@ -246,6 +251,7 @@ func TestStreamReaderDialDetectUnsupport(t *testing.T) {
 			peerID: types.ID(2),
 			tr:     &Transport{streamRt: tr, ClusterID: types.ID(1)},
 			picker: mustNewURLPicker(t, []string{"http://localhost:2380"}),
+			rl:     rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1),
 		}
 
 		_, err := sr.dial(typ)
diff --git a/rafthttp/transport.go b/rafthttp/transport.go
index 1f0b46836e6..a33db3c08cd 100644
--- a/rafthttp/transport.go
+++ b/rafthttp/transport.go
@@ -94,8 +94,10 @@ type Transporter interface {
 // User needs to call Start before calling other functions, and call
 // Stop when the Transport is no longer used.
 type Transport struct {
-	DialTimeout time.Duration     // maximum duration before timing out dial of the request
-	TLSInfo     transport.TLSInfo // TLS information used when creating connection
+	DialTimeout      time.Duration // maximum duration before timing out dial of the request
+	DialRetryTimeout time.Duration // alters the frequency of streamReader dial retrial attempts
+
+	TLSInfo transport.TLSInfo // TLS information used when creating connection
 
 	ID          types.ID   // local member ID
 	URLs        types.URLs // local peer URLs