diff --git a/examples/rate-limiting/Cargo.toml b/examples/rate-limiting/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a81228ed37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/rate-limiting/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+name = "example-rate-limiting"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+publish = false
+
+[dependencies]
+axum = { path = "../../axum" }
+tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["full"] }
+tower = { version = "0.5.2", features = ["limit", "buffer", "load-shed"] }
+tracing = "0.1"
+tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter"] }
diff --git a/examples/rate-limiting/src/main.rs b/examples/rate-limiting/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4e332ad5e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/rate-limiting/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+//! Rate limiting example using `tower::limit::RateLimitLayer`.
+//!
+//! `RateLimit` does not implement `Clone`, so it must be wrapped with
+//! `BufferLayer` to satisfy axum's `Clone` requirement. `HandleErrorLayer`
+//! converts middleware errors (from `Buffer` / `RateLimit`) into HTTP
+//! responses.
+//!
+//! Run with:
+//!
+//! ```not_rust
+//! cargo run -p example-rate-limiting
+//! ```
+//!
+//! Then try sending requests rapidly:
+//!
+//! ```not_rust
+//! # Send several requests at once — excess requests get 503
+//! for i in $(seq 1 8); do curl -sw '\n' http://127.0.0.1:3000/ & done; wait
+//! ```
+
+use axum::{
+    error_handling::HandleErrorLayer, http::StatusCode, response::IntoResponse, routing::get,
+    Router,
+};
+use std::time::Duration;
+use tower::{buffer::BufferLayer, limit::RateLimitLayer, BoxError, ServiceBuilder};
+use tracing_subscriber::{layer::SubscriberExt, util::SubscriberInitExt};
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    tracing_subscriber::registry()
+        .with(
+            tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter::try_from_default_env().unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+                format!("{}=debug,tower=debug", env!("CARGO_CRATE_NAME")).into()
+            }),
+        )
+        .with(tracing_subscriber::fmt::layer())
+        .init();
+
+    let app = Router::new()
+        .route("/", get(|| async { "Hello, World!" }))
+        .route("/slow", get(slow_handler))
+        // Apply a global rate limit: 5 requests per second.
+        //
+        // HandleErrorLayer converts tower errors into HTTP responses.
+        // BufferLayer wraps the non-Clone RateLimit service so that axum
+        // can clone it across tasks.
+        .layer(
+            ServiceBuilder::new()
+                .layer(HandleErrorLayer::new(handle_error))
+                .layer(BufferLayer::new(1024))
+                .layer(RateLimitLayer::new(5, Duration::from_secs(1))),
+        );
+
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:3000")
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+    tracing::debug!("listening on {}", listener.local_addr().unwrap());
+    axum::serve(listener, app).await;
+}
+
+async fn slow_handler() -> &'static str {
+    tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
+    "This was slow!"
+}
+
+async fn handle_error(error: BoxError) -> impl IntoResponse {
+    tracing::error!(%error, "unhandled middleware error");
+    (
+        StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
+        "Something went wrong".to_string(),
+    )
+}