diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a07a6a9..4294e10 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -379,6 +379,17 @@ See the [notes about leaving unclosed pages](#receiving-page-objects-in-callback
 PLAYWRIGHT_MAX_PAGES_PER_CONTEXT = 4
 ```
 
+### `PLAYWRIGHT_CLOSE_CONTEXT_INTERVAL`
+Type `Optional[float]`, default `None`
+
+If set to a non-zero value, browser contexts will be automatically closed after
+spending the specified amount of seconds without open pages. Set to `None`
+(the default) to disable, i.e. contexts remain open until explicitly closed.
+
+```python
+PLAYWRIGHT_CLOSE_CONTEXT_INTERVAL = 5 * 60  # 5 minutes
+```
+
 ### `PLAYWRIGHT_ABORT_REQUEST`
 Type `Optional[Union[Callable, str]]`, default `None`
 
@@ -726,6 +737,12 @@ yield scrapy.Request(
 Please note that if a context with the specified name already exists,
 that context is used and `playwright_context_kwargs` are ignored.
 
+### Automatically closing inactive contexts
+
+Specifying a non-negative integer value for the
+[`PLAYWRIGHT_CLOSE_CONTEXT_INTERVAL`](#playwright_close_context_interval)
+setting enables closing browser contexts which have no active pages.
+
 ### Closing contexts while crawling
 
 After [receiving the Page object in your callback](#receiving-page-objects-in-callbacks),
diff --git a/scrapy_playwright/handler.py b/scrapy_playwright/handler.py
index 3b88944..11f1f81 100644
--- a/scrapy_playwright/handler.py
+++ b/scrapy_playwright/handler.py
@@ -66,8 +66,10 @@
 @dataclass
 class BrowserContextWrapper:
     context: BrowserContext
-    semaphore: asyncio.Semaphore
     persistent: bool
+    semaphore: asyncio.Semaphore  # limit amount of pages
+    inactive: asyncio.Event
+    waiting_close: asyncio.Event
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -98,6 +100,7 @@ class Config:
     restart_disconnected_browser: bool
     target_closed_max_retries: int = 3
     use_threaded_loop: bool = False
+    close_context_interval: Optional[float] = None
 
     @classmethod
     def from_settings(cls, settings: Settings) -> "Config":
@@ -123,6 +126,9 @@ def from_settings(cls, settings: Settings) -> "Config":
             ),
             use_threaded_loop=platform.system() == "Windows"
             or settings.getbool("_PLAYWRIGHT_THREADED_LOOP", False),
+            close_context_interval=_get_float_setting(
+                settings, "PLAYWRIGHT_CLOSE_CONTEXT_INTERVAL"
+            ),
         )
         cfg.cdp_kwargs.pop("endpoint_url", None)
         cfg.connect_kwargs.pop("ws_endpoint", None)
@@ -280,12 +286,34 @@ async def _create_browser_context(
             context.set_default_navigation_timeout(self.config.navigation_timeout)
         self.context_wrappers[name] = BrowserContextWrapper(
             context=context,
-            semaphore=asyncio.Semaphore(value=self.config.max_pages_per_context),
             persistent=persistent,
+            semaphore=asyncio.Semaphore(value=self.config.max_pages_per_context),
+            inactive=asyncio.Event(),
+            waiting_close=asyncio.Event(),
         )
+        if self.config.close_context_interval is not None:
+            asyncio.create_task(self._maybe_close_inactive_context(name=name, spider=spider))
         self._set_max_concurrent_context_count()
         return self.context_wrappers[name]
 
+    async def _maybe_close_inactive_context(
+        self, name: str, spider: Optional[Spider] = None
+    ) -> None:
+        """Close a context if it has had no pages for a certain amount of time."""
+        while name in self.context_wrappers:
+            context_wrapper = self.context_wrappers[name]
+            await context_wrapper.inactive.wait()
+            context_wrapper.waiting_close.set()
+            await asyncio.sleep(self.config.close_context_interval)  # type: ignore [arg-type]
+            if context_wrapper.waiting_close.is_set() and not context_wrapper.context.pages:
+                logger.info(
+                    "[Context=%s] Closing inactive browser context",
+                    name,
+                    extra={"spider": spider, "context_name": name},
+                )
+                await context_wrapper.context.close()
+                break
+
     async def _create_page(self, request: Request, spider: Spider) -> Page:
         """Create a new page in a context, also creating a new context if necessary."""
         context_name = request.meta.setdefault("playwright_context", DEFAULT_CONTEXT_NAME)
@@ -301,6 +329,8 @@ async def _create_page(self, request: Request, spider: Spider) -> Page:
                 )
 
         await ctx_wrapper.semaphore.acquire()
+        ctx_wrapper.inactive.clear()
+        ctx_wrapper.waiting_close.clear()
         page = await ctx_wrapper.context.new_page()
         self.stats.inc_value("playwright/page_count")
         total_page_count = self._get_total_page_count()
@@ -357,6 +387,7 @@ def close(self) -> Deferred:
             _ThreadedLoopAdapter.stop(id(self))
 
     async def _close(self) -> None:
+        logger.info("Closing %i contexts", len(self.context_wrappers))
         with suppress(TargetClosedError):
             await asyncio.gather(*[ctx.context.close() for ctx in self.context_wrappers.values()])
         self.context_wrappers.clear()
@@ -673,6 +704,8 @@ def _make_close_page_callback(self, context_name: str) -> Callable:
         def close_page_callback() -> None:
             if context_name in self.context_wrappers:
                 self.context_wrappers[context_name].semaphore.release()
+                if not self.context_wrappers[context_name].context.pages:
+                    self.context_wrappers[context_name].inactive.set()
 
         return close_page_callback
 
diff --git a/tests/tests_asyncio/test_browser_contexts.py b/tests/tests_asyncio/test_browser_contexts.py
index 97df599..9c0f42f 100644
--- a/tests/tests_asyncio/test_browser_contexts.py
+++ b/tests/tests_asyncio/test_browser_contexts.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import asyncio
+import logging
 import platform
 import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -11,10 +12,15 @@
 from scrapy_playwright.page import PageMethod
 
 from tests import allow_windows, make_handler
-from tests.mockserver import StaticMockServer
+from tests.mockserver import MockServer, StaticMockServer
 
 
 class MixinTestCaseMultipleContexts:
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def inject_fixtures(self, caplog):
+        caplog.set_level(logging.DEBUG)
+        self._caplog = caplog
+
     @allow_windows
     async def test_context_kwargs(self):
         settings_dict = {
@@ -224,6 +230,33 @@ async def test_contexts_dynamic(self):
             assert cookie["value"] == "qwerty"
             assert cookie["domain"] == "example.org"
 
+    @allow_windows
+    async def test_close_inactive_context(self):
+        spider = Spider("foo")
+        async with make_handler(
+            {
+                "PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSER_TYPE": self.browser_type,
+                "PLAYWRIGHT_CLOSE_CONTEXT_INTERVAL": 0.5,
+            }
+        ) as handler:
+            assert len(handler.context_wrappers) == 0
+            with MockServer() as server:
+                await handler._download_request(
+                    Request(server.urljoin("/headers"), meta={"playwright": True}), spider
+                )
+                assert len(handler.context_wrappers) == 1
+                await asyncio.sleep(0.3)
+                await handler._download_request(
+                    Request(server.urljoin("/delay/1"), meta={"playwright": True}), spider
+                )
+                await asyncio.sleep(0.7)
+                assert len(handler.context_wrappers) == 0
+                assert (
+                    "scrapy-playwright",
+                    logging.INFO,
+                    "[Context=default] Closing inactive browser context",
+                ) in self._caplog.record_tuples
+
 
 class TestCaseMultipleContextsChromium(IsolatedAsyncioTestCase, MixinTestCaseMultipleContexts):
     browser_type = "chromium"