diff --git a/pkg/bench/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/bench/BUILD.bazel
index 874ac8491284..5feb15dac094 100644
--- a/pkg/bench/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/bench/BUILD.bazel
@@ -13,12 +13,15 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/base",
         "//pkg/ccl",
+        "//pkg/multitenant/tenantcapabilities",
         "//pkg/roachpb",
         "//pkg/server",
+        "//pkg/testutils",
         "//pkg/testutils/serverutils",
         "//pkg/testutils/skip",
         "//pkg/testutils/sqlutils",
         "//pkg/testutils/testcluster",
+        "@com_github_cockroachdb_errors//:errors",
         "@com_github_go_sql_driver_mysql//:mysql",
         "@com_github_lib_pq//:pq",
         "@com_github_stretchr_testify//require",
diff --git a/pkg/bench/foreachdb.go b/pkg/bench/foreachdb.go
index efcbf8c8a675..6364dcc58362 100644
--- a/pkg/bench/foreachdb.go
+++ b/pkg/bench/foreachdb.go
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/base"
 	_ "github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/ccl"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/multitenant/tenantcapabilities"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachpb"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/server"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/serverutils"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/skip"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/sqlutils"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/testutils/testcluster"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/errors"
 	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql" // registers the MySQL driver to gosql
 	_ "github.com/lib/pq"              // registers the pg driver to gosql
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -78,6 +81,27 @@ func benchmarkSharedProcessTenantCockroach(b *testing.B, f BenchmarkFn) {
 	_, err = db.Exec(`ALTER TENANT ALL SET CLUSTER SETTING "spanconfig.tenant_limit" = 10000000`)
 	require.NoError(b, err)
 
+	// Exempt the tenant from rate limiting. We expect most
+	// shared-process tenants will run without rate limiting in
+	// the near term.
+	_, err = db.Exec(`ALTER TENANT benchtenant GRANT CAPABILITY exempt_from_rate_limiting`)
+	require.NoError(b, err)
+
+	var tenantID uint64
+	require.NoError(b, db.QueryRow(`SELECT id FROM [SHOW TENANT benchtenant]`).Scan(&tenantID))
+
+	err = testutils.SucceedsSoonError(func() error {
+		capabilities, found := s.(*server.TestServer).Server.TenantCapabilitiesReader().GetCapabilities(roachpb.MustMakeTenantID(tenantID))
+		if !found {
+			return errors.Newf("capabilities not yet ready")
+		}
+		if !capabilities.GetBool(tenantcapabilities.ExemptFromRateLimiting) {
+			return errors.Newf("capabilities not yet ready")
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	require.NoError(b, err)
+
 	_, err = tenantDB.Exec(`CREATE DATABASE bench`)
 	require.NoError(b, err)
 
diff --git a/pkg/server/tenant.go b/pkg/server/tenant.go
index 22c6bfc40786..e25d2b87e094 100644
--- a/pkg/server/tenant.go
+++ b/pkg/server/tenant.go
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ func (s *SQLServerWrapper) Drain(
 	return s.drainServer.runDrain(ctx, verbose)
 }
 
+type costControllerFactory func(*cluster.Settings, roachpb.TenantID, kvtenant.TokenBucketProvider) (multitenant.TenantSideCostController, error)
+
 // NewSeparateProcessTenantServer creates a tenant-specific, SQL-only
 // server against a KV backend, with defaults appropriate for a
 // SQLServer that is not located in the same process as a KVServer.
@@ -164,7 +166,8 @@ func NewSeparateProcessTenantServer(
 	tenantNameContainer *roachpb.TenantNameContainer,
 ) (*SQLServerWrapper, error) {
 	instanceIDContainer := baseCfg.IDContainer.SwitchToSQLIDContainerForStandaloneSQLInstance()
-	return newTenantServer(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer)
+	costControllerBuilder := NewTenantSideCostController
+	return newTenantServer(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer, costControllerBuilder)
 }
 
 // NewSharedProcessTenantServer creates a tenant-specific, SQL-only
@@ -184,7 +187,15 @@ func NewSharedProcessTenantServer(
 		return nil, errors.AssertionFailedf("programming error: NewSharedProcessTenantServer called before NodeID was assigned.")
 	}
 	instanceIDContainer := base.NewSQLIDContainerForNode(baseCfg.IDContainer)
-	return newTenantServer(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer)
+	// TODO(ssd): The cost controller should instead be able to
+	// read from the capability system and return immediately if
+	// the tenant is exempt. For now we are turning off the
+	// tenant-side cost controller for shared-memory tenants until
+	// we have the abilility to read capabilities tenant-side.
+	//
+	// https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/issues/84586
+	costControllerBuilder := NewNoopTenantSideCostController
+	return newTenantServer(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer, costControllerBuilder)
 }
 
 // newTenantServer constructs a SQLServerWrapper.
@@ -197,6 +208,7 @@ func newTenantServer(
 	sqlCfg SQLConfig,
 	tenantNameContainer *roachpb.TenantNameContainer,
 	instanceIDContainer *base.SQLIDContainer,
+	costControllerFactory costControllerFactory,
 ) (*SQLServerWrapper, error) {
 	// TODO(knz): Make the license application a per-server thing
 	// instead of a global thing.
@@ -208,7 +220,7 @@ func newTenantServer(
 	// Inform the server identity provider that we're operating
 	// for a tenant server.
 	baseCfg.idProvider.SetTenant(sqlCfg.TenantID)
-	args, err := makeTenantSQLServerArgs(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer)
+	args, err := makeTenantSQLServerArgs(ctx, stopper, baseCfg, sqlCfg, tenantNameContainer, instanceIDContainer, costControllerFactory)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -894,6 +906,7 @@ func makeTenantSQLServerArgs(
 	sqlCfg SQLConfig,
 	tenantNameContainer *roachpb.TenantNameContainer,
 	instanceIDContainer *base.SQLIDContainer,
+	costControllerFactory costControllerFactory,
 ) (sqlServerArgs, error) {
 	st := baseCfg.Settings
 
@@ -986,7 +999,7 @@ func makeTenantSQLServerArgs(
 		tenantKnobs.OverrideTokenBucketProvider != nil {
 		provider = tenantKnobs.OverrideTokenBucketProvider(provider)
 	}
-	costController, err := NewTenantSideCostController(st, sqlCfg.TenantID, provider)
+	costController, err := costControllerFactory(st, sqlCfg.TenantID, provider)
 	if err != nil {
 		return sqlServerArgs{}, err
 	}
@@ -1218,8 +1231,12 @@ func makeNextLiveInstanceIDFn(
 
 // NewTenantSideCostController is a hook for CCL code which implements the
 // controller.
-var NewTenantSideCostController = func(
-	st *cluster.Settings, tenantID roachpb.TenantID, provider kvtenant.TokenBucketProvider,
+var NewTenantSideCostController costControllerFactory = NewNoopTenantSideCostController
+
+// NewNoopTenantSideCostController returns a noop cost
+// controller. Used by shared-process tenants.
+func NewNoopTenantSideCostController(
+	*cluster.Settings, roachpb.TenantID, kvtenant.TokenBucketProvider,
 ) (multitenant.TenantSideCostController, error) {
 	// Return a no-op implementation.
 	return noopTenantSideCostController{}, nil