diff --git a/ambry-tools/src/main/java/com.github.ambry/tools/perf/rest/NettyPerfClient.java b/ambry-tools/src/main/java/com.github.ambry/tools/perf/rest/NettyPerfClient.java
index d7a0de1087..c03abec50a 100644
--- a/ambry-tools/src/main/java/com.github.ambry/tools/perf/rest/NettyPerfClient.java
+++ b/ambry-tools/src/main/java/com.github.ambry/tools/perf/rest/NettyPerfClient.java
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import static com.github.ambry.utils.Utils.*;
+
 
 /**
  * A Netty based client to evaluate performance of the front end(s).
@@ -110,6 +112,12 @@ public class NettyPerfClient {
   private final CountDownLatch channelConnectLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
   private final AtomicLong totalRequestCount = new AtomicLong(0);
   private final Map<Channel, String> channelToHost = new HashMap<>();
+  private final Map<String, AtomicLong> hostToRequestCount = new HashMap<>();
+  private final Map<String, Long> hostToSleepTime = new HashMap<>();
+  private final SleepTimeUpdater updater = new SleepTimeUpdater();
+  private final ScheduledExecutorService backgroundScheduler;
+  private final int targetQPS;
+  private long sleepTimeInMs = 0;
 
   private EventLoopGroup group;
   private long perfClientStartTime;
@@ -133,6 +141,7 @@ private static class ClientArgs {
     final List<String> customHeaders;
     final String serviceId;
     final Integer testTime;
+    final Integer targetQPS;
     final String sslPropsFilePath;
     private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());
 
@@ -208,6 +217,11 @@ private static class ClientArgs {
           .withOptionalArg()
           .describedAs("testTime")
           .ofType(Integer.class);
+      ArgumentAcceptingOptionSpec<Integer> targetQPS = parser.accepts("targetQPS", "The target QPS for each frontend.")
+          .withOptionalArg()
+          .describedAs("targetQPS")
+          .ofType(Integer.class)
+          .defaultsTo(0);
       ArgumentAcceptingOptionSpec<String> sslPropsFilePath =
           parser.accepts("sslPropsFilePath", "The path to the properties file with SSL settings. Set to enable SSL.")
               .withOptionalArg()
@@ -228,6 +242,7 @@ private static class ClientArgs {
       this.customHeaders = options.valuesOf(customHeader);
       this.serviceId = options.valueOf(serviceId);
       this.testTime = options.valueOf(testTime);
+      this.targetQPS = options.valueOf(targetQPS);
       this.sslPropsFilePath = options.valueOf(sslPropsFilePath);
       validateArgs();
 
@@ -241,6 +256,7 @@ private static class ClientArgs {
       logger.info("Post blob chunk size: {}", this.postBlobChunkSize);
       logger.info("SSL properties file path: {}", this.sslPropsFilePath);
       logger.info("Custom Headers: {}", this.customHeaders);
+      logger.info("Target QPS: {}", this.targetQPS);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -262,6 +278,9 @@ private void validateArgs() {
       if (serviceId == null || serviceId.isEmpty()) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("serviceId cannot be empty");
       }
+      if (targetQPS < 0) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Target QPS cannot be negative value");
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -276,7 +295,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) {
           new NettyPerfClient(clientArgs.hosts, clientArgs.port, clientArgs.path, clientArgs.pathFileName,
               clientArgs.concurrency, clientArgs.postBlobTotalSize, clientArgs.postBlobChunkSize,
               clientArgs.sslPropsFilePath, clientArgs.serviceId, clientArgs.targetAccountName,
-              clientArgs.targetContainerName, clientArgs.customHeaders);
+              clientArgs.targetContainerName, clientArgs.customHeaders, clientArgs.targetQPS);
       // attach shutdown handler to catch control-c
       Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(() -> {
         logger.info("Received shutdown signal. Requesting NettyPerfClient shutdown");
@@ -310,12 +329,14 @@ public static void main(String[] args) {
    * @param targetAccountName target account name for POST
    * @param targetContainerName target container name for POST
    * @param customHeaders list of http headers name:value to be added.
+   * @param targetQPS the target QPS expected on single frontend. If not specified, targetQPS uses default value 0, which
+   *                  means the client attempts to issue request as fast as it can.
    * @throws IOException
    * @throws GeneralSecurityException
    */
   private NettyPerfClient(List<String> hosts, int port, String path, String pathFileName, int concurrency,
       Long totalSize, Integer chunkSize, String sslPropsFilePath, String serviceId, String targetAccountName,
-      String targetContainerName, List<String> customHeaders) throws Exception {
+      String targetContainerName, List<String> customHeaders, int targetQPS) throws Exception {
     this.hosts = hosts;
     this.port = port;
     this.path = path;
@@ -325,6 +346,8 @@ private NettyPerfClient(List<String> hosts, int port, String path, String pathFi
       this.pathList = null;
     }
     this.concurrency = concurrency;
+    this.targetQPS = targetQPS;
+    sleepTimeInMs = this.targetQPS > 0 ? 1000L * concurrency / this.targetQPS : 0;
     if (chunkSize != null) {
       this.totalSize = totalSize;
       chunk = new byte[chunkSize];
@@ -344,6 +367,8 @@ private NettyPerfClient(List<String> hosts, int port, String path, String pathFi
         this.customHeaders.add(new Pair<>(customHeaderNameValue[0], customHeaderNameValue[1]));
       }
     }
+    // only when target QPS is specified, the client would create background scheduler to update sleep time.
+    backgroundScheduler = targetQPS > 0 ? Utils.newScheduler(1, false) : null;
     logger.info("Instantiated NettyPerfClient which will interact with hosts {}, port {}, path {} with concurrency {}",
         this.hosts, this.port, this.pathList == null ? this.path : "has " + this.pathList.size() + "paths",
         this.concurrency);
@@ -380,8 +405,14 @@ public void initChannel(SocketChannel ch) throws Exception {
         channelToHost.put(future.channel(), host);
         future.addListener(channelConnectListener);
       }
+      hostToRequestCount.put(host, new AtomicLong(0));
+      hostToSleepTime.put(host, sleepTimeInMs);
     }
     channelConnectLatch.countDown();
+    if (backgroundScheduler != null) {
+      backgroundScheduler.scheduleAtFixedRate(updater, 0, 1, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+      logger.info("Background scheduler is instantiated to update sleep time.");
+    }
     isRunning = true;
     logger.info("Created {} channel(s) per remote host", concurrency);
     logger.info("NettyPerfClient started");
@@ -402,6 +433,9 @@ protected void shutdown() {
         } else {
           logger.info("NettyPerfClient shutdown complete");
         }
+        if (backgroundScheduler != null) {
+          shutDownExecutorService(backgroundScheduler, 5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+        }
       } catch (InterruptedException e) {
         logger.error("NettyPerfClient shutdown interrupted", e);
       } finally {
@@ -424,10 +458,38 @@ protected void shutdown() {
    * Blocking function to wait on the NettyPerfClient shutting down.
    * @throws InterruptedException
    */
-  protected void awaitShutdown() throws InterruptedException {
+  private void awaitShutdown() throws InterruptedException {
     shutdownLatch.await();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * A periodic updater that adjusts sleep time for connections based on current QPS and target QPS.
+   */
+  private class SleepTimeUpdater implements Runnable {
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+      for (Map.Entry<String, AtomicLong> hostAndRequestCount : hostToRequestCount.entrySet()) {
+        String hostname = hostAndRequestCount.getKey();
+        AtomicLong requestCount = hostAndRequestCount.getValue();
+        Long hostSleepTime = hostToSleepTime.get(hostname);
+        long currentQPS = requestCount.get();
+        logger.info("For host {}, request count per sec is {}, current sleep time is {} ms", hostname, currentQPS,
+            hostSleepTime);
+        if (targetQPS > 0 && currentQPS > 0) {
+          // formula to update sleep time is: new sleep time = (currentQPS / targetQPS) * (current sleep time)
+          long newSleepTime = currentQPS * hostSleepTime / targetQPS;
+          // if currentQPS is already higher than target one and new sleep time still equals current sleep time, we
+          // explicitly plus one more millisecond.
+          newSleepTime = newSleepTime + ((currentQPS > targetQPS && newSleepTime == hostSleepTime) ? 1 : 0);
+          hostSleepTime = newSleepTime;
+          requestCount.set(0);
+          logger.info("Updated sleep time is {} ms for host {}", hostSleepTime, hostname);
+        }
+        hostToSleepTime.put(hostname, hostSleepTime);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Custom handler that sends out the request and receives and processes the response.
    * TODO support GET-after-POST and DELETE-after-POST operations for race condition testing.
@@ -533,10 +595,17 @@ public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) {
     private void sendRequest(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) {
       requestId++;
       long globalId = totalRequestCount.incrementAndGet();
-      logger.trace("Sending request with global ID {} and local ID {} on channel {}", globalId, requestId,
-          ctx.channel());
+      Channel channel = ctx.channel();
+      String hostname = ((SocketChannel) channel).remoteAddress().getHostName();
+      hostToRequestCount.get(hostname).incrementAndGet();
+      logger.trace("Sending request with global ID {} and local ID {} on channel {}", globalId, requestId, channel);
       reset();
       perfClientMetrics.requestRate.mark();
+      try {
+        Thread.sleep(hostToSleepTime.get(hostname));
+      } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+        logger.error("Interrupted with exception:", e);
+      }
       ctx.writeAndFlush(request);
       if (request.method().equals(HttpMethod.POST)) {
         ctx.writeAndFlush(chunkedInput);