diff --git a/lychee-bin/src/commands/check.rs b/lychee-bin/src/commands/check.rs
index fb2897a94a..40ab166b9c 100644
--- a/lychee-bin/src/commands/check.rs
+++ b/lychee-bin/src/commands/check.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::collections::HashSet;
+use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::pin::pin;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::sync::Mutex;
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ struct Recursion {
     enabled: bool,
     max_depth: Option<usize>,
     domains: Arc<HashSet<String>>,
-    crawled_urls: Arc<Mutex<HashSet<Url>>>,
+    crawled_urls: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<Url, usize>>>,
     collector: Collector,
     extensions: FileExtensions,
 }
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ impl Recursion {
             enabled: cfg.recursive(),
             max_depth: cfg.max_depth(),
             domains: Arc::new(input_domains),
-            crawled_urls: Arc::new(Mutex::new(HashSet::new())),
+            crawled_urls: Arc::new(Mutex::new(HashMap::new())),
             collector,
             extensions: cfg.extensions(),
         }
@@ -68,7 +68,9 @@ impl Recursion {
             self.crawled_urls
                 .lock()
                 .unwrap()
-                .insert(canonical_url(source));
+                .entry(canonical_url(source))
+                .and_modify(|previous| *previous = (*previous).min(depth.saturating_sub(1)))
+                .or_insert(depth.saturating_sub(1));
         }
 
         let url = response.redirects().map_or_else(
@@ -89,8 +91,16 @@ impl Recursion {
             return Vec::new();
         };
 
-        if !self.crawled_urls.lock().unwrap().insert(url.clone()) {
-            return Vec::new();
+        {
+            let mut crawled_urls = self.crawled_urls.lock().unwrap();
+            if crawled_urls
+                .get(&url)
+                .is_some_and(|previous| self.max_depth.is_none() || *previous <= depth)
+            {
+                return Vec::new();
+            }
+            // A shorter route leaves more depth available for this page's descendants.
+            crawled_urls.insert(url.clone(), depth);
         }
 
         collect_recursive_requests(self.collector.clone(), url, self.extensions.clone())
diff --git a/lychee-bin/tests/cli.rs b/lychee-bin/tests/cli.rs
index 9ca2666423..0011f54766 100644
--- a/lychee-bin/tests/cli.rs
+++ b/lychee-bin/tests/cli.rs
@@ -2671,6 +2671,67 @@ The config file should contain every possible key for documentation purposes."
             .stdout(contains("0 Errors"));
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_recursive_depth_uses_shorter_path_discovered_later() {
+        let server = wiremock::MockServer::start().await;
+        // The fast path reaches shared at depth 2, leaving too little budget
+        // for broken. The slower shortcut reaches it at depth 1 and must
+        // still allow checking the descendant within the configured limit.
+        for (route, body) in [
+            (
+                "/index.html",
+                r#"<a href="/a.html">long</a><a href="/shortcut.html">short</a>"#,
+            ),
+            ("/a.html", r#"<a href="/b.html">b</a>"#),
+            ("/b.html", r#"<a href="/shared.html">shared</a>"#),
+            ("/shortcut.html", r#"<a href="/shared.html">shared</a>"#),
+            ("/shared.html", r#"<a href="/child.html">child</a>"#),
+            ("/child.html", r#"<a href="/broken.html">broken</a>"#),
+        ] {
+            let mut response = ResponseTemplate::new(200).set_body_raw(body, "text/html");
+            if route == "/shortcut.html" {
+                response = response.set_delay(Duration::from_secs(1));
+            }
+            Mock::given(method("GET"))
+                .and(path(route))
+                .respond_with(response)
+                .mount(&server)
+                .await;
+        }
+        Mock::given(method("GET"))
+            .and(path("/broken.html"))
+            .respond_with(ResponseTemplate::new(404))
+            .mount(&server)
+            .await;
+        cargo_bin_cmd!()
+            .arg("--recursive")
+            .arg("--max-depth=3")
+            .arg("--max-concurrency=4")
+            .arg("--max-retries=0")
+            .arg("--verbose")
+            .arg(format!("{}/index.html", server.uri()))
+            .timeout(Duration::from_secs(20))
+            .assert()
+            .code(2)
+            .stdout(contains("/broken.html"));
+
+        // Verify that the delayed route really was extracted after the long
+        // route reached the depth boundary, rather than relying on timing alone.
+        let requests = server.received_requests().await.unwrap();
+        let child = requests
+            .iter()
+            .position(|request| request.url.path() == "/child.html")
+            .unwrap();
+        let shortcut_extraction = requests
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+            .filter(|(_, request)| request.url.path() == "/shortcut.html")
+            .nth(1)
+            .map(|(index, _)| index)
+            .unwrap();
+        assert!(child < shortcut_extraction);
+    }
+
     async fn recursive_test_server() -> wiremock::MockServer {
         let mock_server = wiremock::MockServer::start().await;