diff --git a/archivebox/config/common.py b/archivebox/config/common.py
index f1844219..b7f6b1e7 100644
--- a/archivebox/config/common.py
+++ b/archivebox/config/common.py
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ class ArchivingConfig(BaseConfigSet):
     OVERWRITE: bool = Field(default=False)
 
     TIMEOUT: int = Field(default=60)
+    MAX_URL_ATTEMPTS: int = Field(default=50)
 
     RESOLUTION: str = Field(default="1440,2000")
     CHECK_SSL_VALIDITY: bool = Field(default=True)
diff --git a/archivebox/core/models.py b/archivebox/core/models.py
index 9a160773..c30061c2 100755
--- a/archivebox/core/models.py
+++ b/archivebox/core/models.py
@@ -2580,8 +2580,32 @@ class ArchiveResultMachine(BaseStateMachine, strict_states=True):
     )
 
     def can_start(self) -> bool:
-        can_start = bool(self.archiveresult.snapshot.url)
-        return can_start
+        if not self.archiveresult.snapshot.url:
+            return False
+
+        # Check if snapshot has exceeded MAX_URL_ATTEMPTS failed results
+        from archivebox.config.configset import get_config
+
+        config = get_config(
+            crawl=self.archiveresult.snapshot.crawl,
+            snapshot=self.archiveresult.snapshot,
+        )
+        max_attempts = config.get('MAX_URL_ATTEMPTS', 50)
+
+        # Count failed ArchiveResults for this snapshot (any plugin type)
+        failed_count = self.archiveresult.snapshot.archiveresult_set.filter(
+            status=ArchiveResult.StatusChoices.FAILED
+        ).count()
+
+        if failed_count >= max_attempts:
+            # Mark this result as skipped since we've hit the limit
+            self.archiveresult.status = ArchiveResult.StatusChoices.SKIPPED
+            self.archiveresult.output_str = f'Skipped: snapshot exceeded MAX_URL_ATTEMPTS ({max_attempts} failures)'
+            self.archiveresult.retry_at = None
+            self.archiveresult.save()
+            return False
+
+        return True
 
     def is_succeeded(self) -> bool:
         """Check if extractor plugin succeeded (status was set by run())."""