diff --git a/mesonpy/__init__.py b/mesonpy/__init__.py
index feca54a4..0455bfd1 100644
--- a/mesonpy/__init__.py
+++ b/mesonpy/__init__.py
@@ -747,7 +747,7 @@ def __init__(
             self._metadata.requires_python.prereleases = True
             if platform.python_version().rstrip('+') not in self._metadata.requires_python:
                 raise MesonBuilderError(
-                    f'Package requires Python version {self._metadata.requires_python}, '
+                    f'The package requires Python version {self._metadata.requires_python}, '
                     f'running on {platform.python_version()}')
 
         # limited API
@@ -759,6 +759,11 @@ def __init__(
             if not value:
                 self._limited_api = False
 
+        if self._limited_api and bool(sysconfig.get_config_var('Py_GIL_DISABLED')):
+            raise BuildError(
+                'The package targets Python\'s Limited API, which is not supported by free-threaded CPython. '
+                'The "python.allow_limited_api" Meson build option may be used to override the package default.')
+
     def _run(self, cmd: Sequence[str]) -> None:
         """Invoke a subprocess."""
         # Flush the line to ensure that the log line with the executed
diff --git a/tests/test_editable.py b/tests/test_editable.py
index 3121d688..13f03f13 100644
--- a/tests/test_editable.py
+++ b/tests/test_editable.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 import os
 import pathlib
 import pkgutil
+import re
+import subprocess
 import sys
 
 from contextlib import redirect_stdout
@@ -16,7 +18,16 @@
 
 from mesonpy import _editable
 
-from .test_wheel import EXT_SUFFIX
+from .test_wheel import EXT_SUFFIX, NOGIL_BUILD
+
+
+def find_cython_version():
+    cython_version_str = subprocess.run(['cython', '--version'], check=True,
+                                        stdout=subprocess.PIPE, text=True).stdout
+    version_str = re.search(r'(\d{1,4}\.\d{1,4}\.?\d{0,4})', cython_version_str).group(0)
+    return tuple(map(int, version_str.split('.')))
+
+CYTHON_VERSION = find_cython_version()
 
 
 def test_walk(package_complex):
@@ -280,6 +291,8 @@ def test_editable_rebuild(package_purelib_and_platlib, tmp_path, verbose, args):
             sys.modules.pop('pure', None)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(NOGIL_BUILD and CYTHON_VERSION < (3, 1, 0),
+                    reason='Cython version too old, no free-threaded CPython support')
 def test_editable_verbose(venv, package_complex, editable_complex, monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setenv('MESONPY_EDITABLE_VERBOSE', '1')
     venv.pip('install', os.fspath(editable_complex))
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index db56136d..d2a4e5e4 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
 
 def test_unsupported_python_version(package_unsupported_python_version):
-    with pytest.raises(mesonpy.MesonBuilderError, match='Package requires Python version ==1.0.0'):
+    with pytest.raises(mesonpy.MesonBuilderError, match='The package requires Python version ==1.0.0'):
         with mesonpy._project():
             pass
 
diff --git a/tests/test_wheel.py b/tests/test_wheel.py
index 659ecbf5..24ed59ff 100644
--- a/tests/test_wheel.py
+++ b/tests/test_wheel.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
     'win32': '.dll',
 }.get(sys.platform, '.so')
 
+NOGIL_BUILD = bool(sysconfig.get_config_var('Py_GIL_DISABLED'))
+
 # Test against the wheel tag generated by packaging module.
 tag = next(packaging.tags.sys_tags())
 ABI = tag.abi
@@ -287,6 +289,7 @@ def test_skip_subprojects(package_subproject, tmp_path, arg):
 
 # Requires Meson 1.3.0, see https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/pull/11745.
 @pytest.mark.skipif(MESON_VERSION < (1, 2, 99), reason='Meson version too old')
+@pytest.mark.skipif(NOGIL_BUILD, reason='Free-threaded CPython does not support the limited API')
 def test_limited_api(wheel_limited_api):
     artifact = wheel.wheelfile.WheelFile(wheel_limited_api)
     name = artifact.parsed_filename
@@ -297,6 +300,7 @@ def test_limited_api(wheel_limited_api):
 
 # Requires Meson 1.3.0, see https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/pull/11745.
 @pytest.mark.skipif(MESON_VERSION < (1, 2, 99), reason='Meson version too old')
+@pytest.mark.skipif(NOGIL_BUILD, reason='Free-threaded CPython does not support the limited API')
 @pytest.mark.xfail('__pypy__' in sys.builtin_module_names, reason='PyPy does not use special modules suffix for stable ABI')
 def test_limited_api_bad(package_limited_api, tmp_path):
     with pytest.raises(mesonpy.BuildError, match='The package declares compatibility with Python limited API but '):