diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/azure_blob.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/azure_blob.rs
index 24c1248304..220d4ef115 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/azure_blob.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/azure_blob.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ use http_types::{StatusCode, Url};
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 use tracing::debug;
 
+use crate::RemoteStorageActivity;
 use crate::{
     error::Cancelled, s3_bucket::RequestKind, AzureConfig, ConcurrencyLimiter, Download,
     DownloadError, Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, RemoteStorage, StorageMetadata,
@@ -525,6 +526,10 @@ impl RemoteStorage for AzureBlobStorage {
         // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/point-in-time-restore-overview
         Err(TimeTravelError::Unimplemented)
     }
+
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        self.concurrency_limiter.activity()
+    }
 }
 
 pin_project_lite::pin_project! {
diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/lib.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/lib.rs
index 708662f20f..f024021507 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/lib.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/lib.rs
@@ -263,6 +263,17 @@ pub trait RemoteStorage: Send + Sync + 'static {
         done_if_after: SystemTime,
         cancel: &CancellationToken,
     ) -> Result<(), TimeTravelError>;
+
+    /// Query how busy we currently are: may be used by callers which wish to politely
+    /// back off if there are already a lot of operations underway.
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity;
+}
+
+pub struct RemoteStorageActivity {
+    pub read_available: usize,
+    pub read_total: usize,
+    pub write_available: usize,
+    pub write_total: usize,
 }
 
 /// DownloadStream is sensitive to the timeout and cancellation used with the original
@@ -444,6 +455,15 @@ impl<Other: RemoteStorage> GenericRemoteStorage<Arc<Other>> {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    pub fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        match self {
+            Self::LocalFs(s) => s.activity(),
+            Self::AwsS3(s) => s.activity(),
+            Self::AzureBlob(s) => s.activity(),
+            Self::Unreliable(s) => s.activity(),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl GenericRemoteStorage {
@@ -774,6 +794,9 @@ struct ConcurrencyLimiter {
     // The helps to ensure we don't exceed the thresholds.
     write: Arc<Semaphore>,
     read: Arc<Semaphore>,
+
+    write_total: usize,
+    read_total: usize,
 }
 
 impl ConcurrencyLimiter {
@@ -802,10 +825,21 @@ impl ConcurrencyLimiter {
         Arc::clone(self.for_kind(kind)).acquire_owned().await
     }
 
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        RemoteStorageActivity {
+            read_available: self.read.available_permits(),
+            read_total: self.read_total,
+            write_available: self.write.available_permits(),
+            write_total: self.write_total,
+        }
+    }
+
     fn new(limit: usize) -> ConcurrencyLimiter {
         Self {
             read: Arc::new(Semaphore::new(limit)),
             write: Arc::new(Semaphore::new(limit)),
+            read_total: limit,
+            write_total: limit,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/local_fs.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/local_fs.rs
index 1f7bcfc982..f12f6590a3 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/local_fs.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/local_fs.rs
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ use tokio_util::{io::ReaderStream, sync::CancellationToken};
 use utils::crashsafe::path_with_suffix_extension;
 
 use crate::{
-    Download, DownloadError, Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, TimeTravelError, TimeoutOrCancel,
-    REMOTE_STORAGE_PREFIX_SEPARATOR,
+    Download, DownloadError, Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, RemoteStorageActivity,
+    TimeTravelError, TimeoutOrCancel, REMOTE_STORAGE_PREFIX_SEPARATOR,
 };
 
 use super::{RemoteStorage, StorageMetadata};
@@ -605,6 +605,16 @@ impl RemoteStorage for LocalFs {
     ) -> Result<(), TimeTravelError> {
         Err(TimeTravelError::Unimplemented)
     }
+
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        // LocalFS has no concurrency limiting: give callers the impression that plenty of units are available
+        RemoteStorageActivity {
+            read_available: 16,
+            read_total: 16,
+            write_available: 16,
+            write_total: 16,
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 fn storage_metadata_path(original_path: &Utf8Path) -> Utf8PathBuf {
diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
index c3d6c75e20..0f6772b274 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/s3_bucket.rs
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ use utils::backoff;
 use super::StorageMetadata;
 use crate::{
     error::Cancelled, support::PermitCarrying, ConcurrencyLimiter, Download, DownloadError,
-    Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, RemoteStorage, S3Config, TimeTravelError, TimeoutOrCancel,
-    MAX_KEYS_PER_DELETE, REMOTE_STORAGE_PREFIX_SEPARATOR,
+    Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, RemoteStorage, RemoteStorageActivity, S3Config,
+    TimeTravelError, TimeoutOrCancel, MAX_KEYS_PER_DELETE, REMOTE_STORAGE_PREFIX_SEPARATOR,
 };
 
 pub(super) mod metrics;
@@ -975,6 +975,10 @@ impl RemoteStorage for S3Bucket {
         }
         Ok(())
     }
+
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        self.concurrency_limiter.activity()
+    }
 }
 
 /// On drop (cancellation) count towards [`metrics::BucketMetrics::cancelled_waits`].
diff --git a/libs/remote_storage/src/simulate_failures.rs b/libs/remote_storage/src/simulate_failures.rs
index c467a2d196..66522e04ca 100644
--- a/libs/remote_storage/src/simulate_failures.rs
+++ b/libs/remote_storage/src/simulate_failures.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
 use crate::{
     Download, DownloadError, GenericRemoteStorage, Listing, ListingMode, RemotePath, RemoteStorage,
-    StorageMetadata, TimeTravelError,
+    RemoteStorageActivity, StorageMetadata, TimeTravelError,
 };
 
 pub struct UnreliableWrapper {
@@ -213,4 +213,8 @@ impl RemoteStorage for UnreliableWrapper {
             .time_travel_recover(prefix, timestamp, done_if_after, cancel)
             .await
     }
+
+    fn activity(&self) -> RemoteStorageActivity {
+        self.inner.activity()
+    }
 }