diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 36f30467d5..8700e19c0d 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs(NodeContext& node)
                  ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
 
     argsman.AddArg("-asmap=<file>", strprintf("Specify asn mapping used for bucketing of the peers (default: %s). Relative paths will be prefixed by the net-specific datadir location.", DEFAULT_ASMAP_FILENAME), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
-    argsman.AddArg("-addnode=<ip>", "Add a node to connect to and attempt to keep the connection open (see the `addnode` RPC command help for more info). This option can be specified multiple times to add multiple nodes.", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY | ArgsManager::NETWORK_ONLY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
+    argsman.AddArg("-addnode=<ip>", strprintf("Add a node to connect to and attempt to keep the connection open (see the addnode RPC help for more info). This option can be specified multiple times to add multiple nodes; connections are limited to %u at a time and are counted separately from the -maxconnections limit.", MAX_ADDNODE_CONNECTIONS), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY | ArgsManager::NETWORK_ONLY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-allowprivatenet", strprintf("Allow RFC1918 addresses to be relayed and connected to (default: %u)", DEFAULT_ALLOWPRIVATENET), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-bantime=<n>", strprintf("Default duration (in seconds) of manually configured bans (default: %u)", DEFAULT_MISBEHAVING_BANTIME), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-bind=<addr>[:<port>][=onion]", strprintf("Bind to given address and always listen on it (default: 0.0.0.0). Use [host]:port notation for IPv6. Append =onion to tag any incoming connections to that address and port as incoming Tor connections (default: 127.0.0.1:%u=onion, testnet: 127.0.0.1:%u=onion, regtest: 127.0.0.1:%u=onion)", defaultBaseParams->OnionServiceTargetPort(), testnetBaseParams->OnionServiceTargetPort(), regtestBaseParams->OnionServiceTargetPort()), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY | ArgsManager::NETWORK_ONLY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs(NodeContext& node)
     argsman.AddArg("-forcednsseed", strprintf("Always query for peer addresses via DNS lookup (default: %u)", DEFAULT_FORCEDNSSEED), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-listen", "Accept connections from outside (default: 1 if no -proxy or -connect)", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-listenonion", strprintf("Automatically create Tor onion service (default: %d)", DEFAULT_LISTEN_ONION), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
-    argsman.AddArg("-maxconnections=<n>", strprintf("Maintain at most <n> connections to peers (temporary service connections excluded) (default: %u)", DEFAULT_MAX_PEER_CONNECTIONS), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
+    argsman.AddArg("-maxconnections=<n>", strprintf("Maintain at most <n> connections to peers (temporary service connections excluded) (default: %u). This limit does not apply to connections manually added via -addnode or the addnode RPC, which have a separate limit of %u.", DEFAULT_MAX_PEER_CONNECTIONS, MAX_ADDNODE_CONNECTIONS), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-maxreceivebuffer=<n>", strprintf("Maximum per-connection receive buffer, <n>*1000 bytes (default: %u)", DEFAULT_MAXRECEIVEBUFFER), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-maxsendbuffer=<n>", strprintf("Maximum per-connection send buffer, <n>*1000 bytes (default: %u)", DEFAULT_MAXSENDBUFFER), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
     argsman.AddArg("-maxtimeadjustment", strprintf("Maximum allowed median peer time offset adjustment. Local perspective of time may be influenced by peers forward or backward by this amount. (default: %u seconds)", DEFAULT_MAX_TIME_ADJUSTMENT), ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::CONNECTION);
diff --git a/src/rpc/net.cpp b/src/rpc/net.cpp
index f0654a0d50..5ad7630711 100644
--- a/src/rpc/net.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/net.cpp
@@ -298,7 +298,9 @@ static RPCHelpMan addnode()
         "\nAttempts to add or remove a node from the addnode list.\n"
         "Or try a connection to a node once.\n"
         "Nodes added using addnode (or -connect) are protected from DoS disconnection and are not required to be\n"
-        "full nodes as other outbound peers are (though such peers will not be synced from).\n",
+        "full nodes as other outbound peers are (though such peers will not be synced from).\n" +
+                strprintf("Addnode connections are limited to %u at a time", MAX_ADDNODE_CONNECTIONS) +
+                " and are counted separately from the -maxconnections limit.\n",
         {
             {"node", RPCArg::Type::STR, RPCArg::Optional::NO, "The node (see getpeerinfo for nodes)"},
             {"command", RPCArg::Type::STR, RPCArg::Optional::NO, "'add' to add a node to the list, 'remove' to remove a node from the list, 'onetry' to try a connection to the node once"},