diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/job/manager/AutodetectProcessManager.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/job/manager/AutodetectProcessManager.java
index a59ae0f0661..717bdf20c67 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/job/manager/AutodetectProcessManager.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/job/manager/AutodetectProcessManager.java
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public class AutodetectProcessManager extends AbstractComponent implements DataP
     AutodetectCommunicator create(String jobId, boolean ignoreDowntime) {
         if (autoDetectCommunicatorByJob.size() == maxRunningJobs) {
             throw new ElasticsearchStatusException("max running job capacity [" + maxRunningJobs + "] reached",
-                    RestStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS);
+                    RestStatus.FORBIDDEN);
         }
 
         // TODO norelease, once we remove black hole process
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
index f72d6e0fb6a..52f952ecaf5 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/prelert/integration/TooManyJobsIT.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public class TooManyJobsIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
                     logger.warn("Unexpected cause", e);
                 }
                 assertEquals(ElasticsearchStatusException.class, cause.getClass());
-                assertEquals(RestStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS, ((ElasticsearchStatusException) cause).status());
+                assertEquals(RestStatus.FORBIDDEN, ((ElasticsearchStatusException) cause).status());
                 logger.info("good news everybody --> reached threadpool capacity after starting {}th analytical process", i);
 
                 // now manually clean things up and see if we can succeed to start one new job