diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/stop-supervisor-if-failure.md b/changelog/unreleased/stop-supervisor-if-failure.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8bccf7a53d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/stop-supervisor-if-failure.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Bugfix: Stop the supervisor if a service fails to start
+
+Steps to make the supervisor fail:
+
+`PROXY_HTTP_ADDR=0.0.0.0:9144 bin/ocis server`
+
+https://github.com/owncloud/ocis/pull/1963
diff --git a/ocis/pkg/runtime/service/service.go b/ocis/pkg/runtime/service/service.go
index cfab669058..268d7473fd 100644
--- a/ocis/pkg/runtime/service/service.go
+++ b/ocis/pkg/runtime/service/service.go
@@ -123,16 +123,32 @@ func Start(o ...Option) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// halt listens for interrupt signals and blocks.
+	halt := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
+	signal.Notify(halt, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT, syscall.SIGHUP)
+
 	// notify goroutines that they are running on supervised mode
 	s.cfg.Mode = ociscfg.SUPERVISED
 
 	setMicroLogger()
 
+	// tolerance controls backoff cycles from the supervisor.
+	tolerance := 5
+	totalBackoff := 0
+
 	// Start creates its own supervisor. Running services under `ocis server` will create its own supervision tree.
 	s.Supervisor = suture.New("ocis", suture.Spec{
 		EventHook: func(e suture.Event) {
+			if e.Type() == suture.EventTypeBackoff {
+				totalBackoff++
+				if totalBackoff == tolerance {
+					halt <- os.Interrupt
+				}
+			}
 			s.Log.Info().Str("event", e.String()).Msg(fmt.Sprintf("supervisor: %v", e.Map()["supervisor_name"]))
 		},
+		FailureThreshold: 5,
+		FailureBackoff:   3 * time.Second,
 	})
 
 	// reva storages have their own logging. For consistency sake the top level logging will cascade to reva.
@@ -148,10 +164,6 @@ func Start(o ...Option) error {
 	}
 	rpc.HandleHTTP()
 
-	// halt listens for interrupt signals and blocks.
-	halt := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
-	signal.Notify(halt, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT, syscall.SIGHUP)
-
 	l, err := net.Listen("tcp", net.JoinHostPort(s.cfg.Runtime.Host, s.cfg.Runtime.Port))
 	if err != nil {
 		s.Log.Fatal().Err(err)