diff --git a/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/sni_limiter.cc b/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/sni_limiter.cc
index 6f0a9e717b6..e27df4c06f5 100644
--- a/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/sni_limiter.cc
+++ b/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/sni_limiter.cc
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ SniRateLimiter::initialize(int argc, const char *argv[])
  // EOF
     {nullptr,                                         no_argument,       nullptr, '\0'},
   };
+  optind = 1;
 
   TSDebug(PLUGIN_NAME, "Initializing an SNI Rate Limiter");
 
diff --git a/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/txn_limiter.cc b/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/txn_limiter.cc
index 335b419fa6e..bc35a757980 100644
--- a/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/txn_limiter.cc
+++ b/plugins/experimental/rate_limit/txn_limiter.cc
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ TxnRateLimiter::initialize(int argc, const char *argv[])
  // EOF
     {nullptr,                      no_argument,       nullptr, '\0'},
   };
+  optind = 1;
 
   while (true) {
     int opt = getopt_long(argc, const_cast<char *const *>(argv), "", longopt, nullptr);