diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.29.0.0] - 2026-08-19
+
+### Added
+
+* `parallelWith`, to declare that at most a given number of the tests below it
+  may run at once.  For tests that contend for something the suite does not
+  own, such as one database server shared by a database per test, where running
+  all of them at once is slower than running some of them and `sequential`
+  gives up more than it needs to.
+
+### Changed
+
+* `Parallelism` has a third constructor, `ParallelWith`, so any exhaustive
+  match on it needs a new case.
+
 ## [0.28.0.0] - 2026-08-08
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/src/Test/Syd.hs b/src/Test/Syd.hs
--- a/src/Test/Syd.hs
+++ b/src/Test/Syd.hs
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@
     -- *** Declaring parallelism
     sequential,
     parallel,
+    parallelWith,
     withParallelism,
     Parallelism (..),
 
diff --git a/src/Test/Syd/Modify.hs b/src/Test/Syd/Modify.hs
--- a/src/Test/Syd/Modify.hs
+++ b/src/Test/Syd/Modify.hs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     -- * Declaring parallelism
     sequential,
     parallel,
+    parallelWith,
     withParallelism,
     Parallelism (..),
 
@@ -79,6 +80,17 @@
 -- | Declare that all tests below may be run in parallel. (This is the default.)
 parallel :: TestDefM a b c -> TestDefM a b c
 parallel = withParallelism Parallel
+
+-- | Declare that at most this many of the tests below may run at once.
+--
+-- The bound is across everything below this point together, not per group, and
+-- it does not add threads: it only ever holds tests back. Reach for it when
+-- tests contend for something the suite does not own, such as one database
+-- server shared by a database per test, where running all of them at once is
+-- slower than running some of them and 'sequential' gives up more than it
+-- needs to.
+parallelWith :: Word -> TestDefM a b c -> TestDefM a b c
+parallelWith = withParallelism . ParallelWith
 
 -- | Annotate a test group with 'Parallelism'.
 withParallelism :: Parallelism -> TestDefM a b c -> TestDefM a b c
diff --git a/src/Test/Syd/Runner/Asynchronous.hs b/src/Test/Syd/Runner/Asynchronous.hs
--- a/src/Test/Syd/Runner/Asynchronous.hs
+++ b/src/Test/Syd/Runner/Asynchronous.hs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 import Control.Concurrent.Async as Async
 import Control.Concurrent.MVar
+import Control.Concurrent.QSem
 import Control.Concurrent.STM as STM
 import Control.Exception
 import Control.Monad
@@ -239,11 +240,17 @@
                   -- It's not enough to just not have two tests running at the
                   -- same time, because they also need to be executed in order.
                   case eParallelism of
-                    Sequential -> do
+                    RunSequential -> do
                       waitForWorkersDone
                       job 0
-                    Parallel -> do
+                    RunParallel -> do
                       enqueueJob jobQueue job
+                    RunParallelWith sem ->
+                      -- Still queued like any other job, so this only ever
+                      -- holds tests back; it never runs more of them than
+                      -- there are workers.
+                      enqueueJob jobQueue $ \workerNr ->
+                        bracket_ (waitQSem sem) (signalQSem sem) (job workerNr)
           DefPendingNode _ _ -> pure ()
           DefDescribeNode _ sdf -> goForest sdf
           DefSetupNode func sdf -> do
@@ -298,9 +305,10 @@
                               waitForWorkersDone
                               func (eExternalResources e)
                           )
-          DefParallelismNode p' sdf ->
+          DefParallelismNode p' sdf -> do
+            runParallelism <- liftIO $ resolveParallelism p'
             withReaderT
-              (\e -> e {eParallelism = p'})
+              (\e -> e {eParallelism = runParallelism})
               (goForest sdf)
           DefRandomisationNode _ sdf ->
             goForest sdf -- Ignore, randomisation has already happened.
@@ -324,7 +332,7 @@
     runReaderT
       (goForest handleForest)
       Env
-        { eParallelism = Parallel,
+        { eParallelism = RunParallel,
           eTimeout = settingTimeout settings,
           eRetries = settingRetries settings,
           eFlakinessMode = MayNotBeFlaky,
@@ -333,11 +341,26 @@
         }
     waitForWorkersDone -- Make sure all jobs are done before cancelling the runners.
 
+-- | 'Parallelism', with the semaphore a bound needs already made.
+--
+-- One semaphore per 'DefParallelismNode', so everything below that node shares
+-- the one bound rather than each group getting its own.
+data RunParallelism
+  = RunParallel
+  | RunParallelWith !QSem
+  | RunSequential
+
+resolveParallelism :: Parallelism -> IO RunParallelism
+resolveParallelism = \case
+  Parallel -> pure RunParallel
+  ParallelWith w -> RunParallelWith <$> newQSem (fromIntegral w)
+  Sequential -> pure RunSequential
+
 type R a = ReaderT (Env a) IO
 
 -- Not exported, on purpose.
 data Env externalResources = Env
-  { eParallelism :: !Parallelism,
+  { eParallelism :: !RunParallelism,
     eTimeout :: !Timeout,
     eRetries :: !Word,
     eFlakinessMode :: !FlakinessMode,
diff --git a/src/Test/Syd/SpecDef.hs b/src/Test/Syd/SpecDef.hs
--- a/src/Test/Syd/SpecDef.hs
+++ b/src/Test/Syd/SpecDef.hs
@@ -310,8 +310,17 @@
       DefExpectationNode i sdf -> DefExpectationNode i $ goForest sdf
 
 data Parallelism
-  = Parallel
-  | Sequential
+  = -- | As many at once as there are threads to run them.
+    Parallel
+  | -- | At most this many at once, however many threads there are.
+    --
+    -- For tests that contend for something the test suite does not own, like
+    -- one database server behind a database per test. Running fewer of those at
+    -- once can be faster than running all of them, and is the smaller
+    -- instrument where 'Sequential' would do.
+    ParallelWith !Word
+  | -- | One at a time.
+    Sequential
   deriving (Show, Eq, Generic)
 
 data ExecutionOrderRandomisation
diff --git a/sydtest.cabal b/sydtest.cabal
--- a/sydtest.cabal
+++ b/sydtest.cabal
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 
 name:           sydtest
-version:        0.28.0.0
+version:        0.29.0.0
 synopsis:       A modern testing framework for Haskell with good defaults and advanced testing features.
 description:    A modern testing framework for Haskell with good defaults and advanced testing features. Sydtest aims to make the common easy and the hard possible. See https://github.com/NorfairKing/sydtest#readme for more information.
 category:       Testing