diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/api/prometheus/api_prometheus.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/api/prometheus/api_prometheus.go
index 934805d74f4..b4e14a66cfe 100644
--- a/pkg/services/ngalert/api/prometheus/api_prometheus.go
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/api/prometheus/api_prometheus.go
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ func (srv PrometheusSrv) RouteGetRuleStatuses(c *contextmodel.ReqContext) respon
 type RuleStatusMutator func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule)
 
 // mutator function used to attach alert states to the rule and returns the totals and filtered totals
-type RuleAlertStateMutator func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule, stateFilterSet map[eval.State]struct{}, matchers labels.Matchers, labelOptions []ngmodels.LabelOption) (total map[string]int64, filteredTotal map[string]int64)
+type RuleAlertStateMutator func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule, stateFilterSet map[eval.State]struct{}, matchers labels.Matchers, labelOptions []ngmodels.LabelOption, limitAlerts int64) (total map[string]int64, filteredTotal map[string]int64)
 
 func RuleStatusMutatorGenerator(statusReader StatusReader) RuleStatusMutator {
 	return func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule) {
@@ -377,32 +377,18 @@ func RuleStatusMutatorGenerator(statusReader StatusReader) RuleStatusMutator {
 }
 
 func RuleAlertStateMutatorGenerator(manager state.AlertInstanceManager) RuleAlertStateMutator {
-	return func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule, stateFilterSet map[eval.State]struct{}, matchers labels.Matchers, labelOptions []ngmodels.LabelOption) (map[string]int64, map[string]int64) {
+	return func(source *ngmodels.AlertRule, toMutate *apimodels.AlertingRule, stateFilterSet map[eval.State]struct{}, matchers labels.Matchers, labelOptions []ngmodels.LabelOption, limitAlerts int64) (map[string]int64, map[string]int64) {
 		states := manager.GetStatesForRuleUID(source.OrgID, source.UID)
 		totals := make(map[string]int64)
 		totalsFiltered := make(map[string]int64)
 		for _, alertState := range states {
 			activeAt := alertState.StartsAt
-			valString := ""
-			if alertState.State == eval.Alerting || alertState.State == eval.Pending || alertState.State == eval.Recovering {
-				valString = FormatValues(alertState)
-			}
 			stateKey := strings.ToLower(alertState.State.String())
 			totals[stateKey] += 1
 			// Do not add error twice when execution error state is Error
 			if alertState.Error != nil && source.ExecErrState != ngmodels.ErrorErrState {
 				totals["error"] += 1
 			}
-			alert := apimodels.Alert{
-				Labels:      apimodels.LabelsFromMap(alertState.GetLabels(labelOptions...)),
-				Annotations: apimodels.LabelsFromMap(alertState.Annotations),
-
-				// TODO: or should we make this two fields? Using one field lets the
-				// frontend use the same logic for parsing text on annotations and this.
-				State:    state.FormatStateAndReason(alertState.State, alertState.StateReason),
-				ActiveAt: &activeAt,
-				Value:    valString,
-			}
 
 			// Set the state of the rule based on the state of its alerts.
 			// Only update the rule state with 'pending' or 'recovering' if the current state is 'inactive'.
@@ -442,7 +428,23 @@ func RuleAlertStateMutatorGenerator(manager state.AlertInstanceManager) RuleAler
 				totalsFiltered["error"] += 1
 			}
 
-			toMutate.Alerts = append(toMutate.Alerts, alert)
+			if limitAlerts != 0 {
+				valString := ""
+				if alertState.State == eval.Alerting || alertState.State == eval.Pending || alertState.State == eval.Recovering {
+					valString = FormatValues(alertState)
+				}
+
+				toMutate.Alerts = append(toMutate.Alerts, apimodels.Alert{
+					Labels:      apimodels.LabelsFromMap(alertState.GetLabels(labelOptions...)),
+					Annotations: apimodels.LabelsFromMap(alertState.Annotations),
+
+					// TODO: or should we make this two fields? Using one field lets the
+					// frontend use the same logic for parsing text on annotations and this.
+					State:    state.FormatStateAndReason(alertState.State, alertState.StateReason),
+					ActiveAt: &activeAt,
+					Value:    valString,
+				})
+			}
 		}
 		return totals, totalsFiltered
 	}
@@ -1227,7 +1229,7 @@ func toRuleGroup(log log.Logger, groupKey ngmodels.AlertRuleGroupKey, folderFull
 		}
 
 		// mutate rule for alert states
-		totals, totalsFiltered := ruleAlertStateMutator(rule, &alertingRule, stateFilterSet, matchers, labelOptions)
+		totals, totalsFiltered := ruleAlertStateMutator(rule, &alertingRule, stateFilterSet, matchers, labelOptions, limitAlerts)
 
 		if alertingRule.State != "" {
 			rulesTotals[alertingRule.State] += 1