diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1a7bc3a2..c0497770 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Added default environment variable `STAC_ITEM_LIMIT` to SFEOS for result limiting of returned items and STAC collections [#419](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/419)
 
 ## [v6.2.0] - 2025-08-27
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 41af2591..a864b3d5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ You can customize additional settings in your `.env` file:
 | `RAISE_ON_BULK_ERROR`        | Controls whether bulk insert operations raise exceptions on errors. If set to `true`, the operation will stop and raise an exception when an error occurs. If set to `false`, errors will be logged, and the operation will continue. **Note:** STAC Item and ItemCollection validation errors will always raise, regardless of this flag. | `false` | Optional |
 | `DATABASE_REFRESH`           | Controls whether database operations refresh the index immediately after changes. If set to `true`, changes will be immediately searchable. If set to `false`, changes may not be immediately visible but can improve performance for bulk operations. If set to `wait_for`, changes will wait for the next refresh cycle to become visible. | `false` | Optional |
 | `ENABLE_TRANSACTIONS_EXTENSIONS` | Enables or disables the Transactions and Bulk Transactions API extensions. If set to `false`, the POST `/collections` route and related transaction endpoints (including bulk transaction operations) will be unavailable in the API. This is useful for deployments where mutating the catalog via the API should be prevented. | `true` | Optional |
+| `STAC_ITEM_LIMIT` | Sets the environment variable for result limiting to SFEOS for the number of returned items and STAC collections. | `10` | Optional |
 
 > [!NOTE]
 > The variables `ES_HOST`, `ES_PORT`, `ES_USE_SSL`, `ES_VERIFY_CERTS` and `ES_TIMEOUT` apply to both Elasticsearch and OpenSearch backends, so there is no need to rename the key names to `OS_` even if you're using OpenSearch.
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/core.py b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/core.py
index 07b17890..8e7da91b 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/core.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/core.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Core client."""
 
 import logging
+import os
 from datetime import datetime as datetime_type
 from datetime import timezone
 from enum import Enum
@@ -234,7 +235,7 @@ async def all_collections(self, **kwargs) -> stac_types.Collections:
         """
         request = kwargs["request"]
         base_url = str(request.base_url)
-        limit = int(request.query_params.get("limit", 10))
+        limit = int(request.query_params.get("limit", os.getenv("STAC_ITEM_LIMIT", 10)))
         token = request.query_params.get("token")
 
         collections, next_token = await self.database.get_all_collections(
@@ -285,7 +286,7 @@ async def item_collection(
         collection_id: str,
         bbox: Optional[BBox] = None,
         datetime: Optional[str] = None,
-        limit: Optional[int] = 10,
+        limit: Optional[int] = None,
         token: Optional[str] = None,
         **kwargs,
     ) -> stac_types.ItemCollection:
@@ -295,7 +296,7 @@ async def item_collection(
             collection_id (str): The identifier of the collection to read items from.
             bbox (Optional[BBox]): The bounding box to filter items by.
             datetime (Optional[str]): The datetime range to filter items by.
-            limit (int): The maximum number of items to return. The default value is 10.
+            limit (int): The maximum number of items to return.
             token (str): A token used for pagination.
             request (Request): The incoming request.
 
@@ -341,6 +342,7 @@ async def item_collection(
 
             search = self.database.apply_bbox_filter(search=search, bbox=bbox)
 
+        limit = int(request.query_params.get("limit", os.getenv("STAC_ITEM_LIMIT", 10)))
         items, maybe_count, next_token = await self.database.execute_search(
             search=search,
             limit=limit,
@@ -393,7 +395,7 @@ async def get_search(
         ids: Optional[List[str]] = None,
         bbox: Optional[BBox] = None,
         datetime: Optional[str] = None,
-        limit: Optional[int] = 10,
+        limit: Optional[int] = None,
         query: Optional[str] = None,
         token: Optional[str] = None,
         fields: Optional[List[str]] = None,
@@ -426,6 +428,7 @@ async def get_search(
         Raises:
             HTTPException: If any error occurs while searching the catalog.
         """
+        limit = int(request.query_params.get("limit", os.getenv("STAC_ITEM_LIMIT", 10)))
         base_args = {
             "collections": collections,
             "ids": ids,
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/tests/api/test_api.py b/stac_fastapi/tests/api/test_api.py
index a9de4460..c07efbd2 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/tests/api/test_api.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/tests/api/test_api.py
@@ -1470,3 +1470,73 @@ def create_items(date_prefix: str, start_day: int, count: int) -> dict:
             f"/collections/{collection_id}/items/{base_item['id']}", json=item_data
         )
         assert response.json()["properties"]["platform"] == "Updated platform via PUT"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_collections_limit_env_variable(app_client, txn_client, load_test_data):
+    limit = "5"
+    os.environ["STAC_ITEM_LIMIT"] = limit
+    item = load_test_data("test_collection.json")
+
+    for i in range(10):
+        test_collection = item.copy()
+        test_collection["id"] = f"test-collection-env-{i}"
+        test_collection["title"] = f"Test Collection Env {i}"
+        await create_collection(txn_client, test_collection)
+
+    resp = await app_client.get("/collections")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    resp_json = resp.json()
+    assert int(limit) == len(resp_json["collections"])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_search_collection_limit_env_variable(
+    app_client, txn_client, load_test_data
+):
+    limit = "5"
+    os.environ["STAC_ITEM_LIMIT"] = limit
+
+    test_collection = load_test_data("test_collection.json")
+    test_collection_id = "test-collection-search-limit"
+    test_collection["id"] = test_collection_id
+    await create_collection(txn_client, test_collection)
+
+    item = load_test_data("test_item.json")
+    item["collection"] = test_collection_id
+
+    for i in range(10):
+        test_item = item.copy()
+        test_item["id"] = f"test-item-search-{i}"
+        await create_item(txn_client, test_item)
+
+    resp = await app_client.get("/search", params={"collections": [test_collection_id]})
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    resp_json = resp.json()
+    assert int(limit) == len(resp_json["features"])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_collection_items_limit_env_variable(
+    app_client, txn_client, load_test_data
+):
+    limit = "5"
+    os.environ["STAC_ITEM_LIMIT"] = limit
+
+    test_collection = load_test_data("test_collection.json")
+    test_collection_id = "test-collection-items-limit"
+    test_collection["id"] = test_collection_id
+    await create_collection(txn_client, test_collection)
+
+    item = load_test_data("test_item.json")
+    item["collection"] = test_collection_id
+
+    for i in range(10):
+        test_item = item.copy()
+        test_item["id"] = f"test-item-collection-{i}"
+        await create_item(txn_client, test_item)
+
+    resp = await app_client.get(f"/collections/{test_collection_id}/items")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    resp_json = resp.json()
+    assert int(limit) == len(resp_json["features"])