A novel spatial power limiter based on nonlinear frequency selective surface (FSS) is presented for high power electromagnetic (HPEM) wave protection. Embedded with Schottky diodes, the nonlinear FSS not only reflects out‐of‐band electromagnetic incidence like a filter, but also exhibits a power‐limiting characteristic, allowing low‐loss transmission for an in‐band low‐power incidence while rejecting a high‐power one. Such a FSS with 4 × 4 unit cells is designed, fabricated and measured. Results demonstrate its pass‐band centering at 2.5 GHz, power density threshold of about 0.27 W/m2 and shielding effectiveness (SE) up to 20 dB at 2.5 GHz.