diff --git a/swh/lister/sourceforge/lister.py b/swh/lister/sourceforge/lister.py
--- a/swh/lister/sourceforge/lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/sourceforge/lister.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from tenacity.before_sleep import before_sleep_log
 
 from swh.core.api.classes import stream_results
-from swh.lister.utils import throttling_retry
+from swh.lister.utils import retry_policy_generic, throttling_retry
 from swh.scheduler.interface import SchedulerInterface
 from swh.scheduler.model import ListedOrigin
 
@@ -186,7 +186,10 @@
         self._project_last_modified = listed_origins
         return listed_origins
 
-    @throttling_retry(before_sleep=before_sleep_log(logger, logging.WARNING))
+    @throttling_retry(
+        retry=retry_policy_generic,
+        before_sleep=before_sleep_log(logger, logging.WARNING),
+    )
     def page_request(self, url, params) -> requests.Response:
         # Log listed URL to ease debugging
         logger.debug("Fetching URL %s with params %s", url, params)
diff --git a/swh/lister/sourceforge/tests/test_lister.py b/swh/lister/sourceforge/tests/test_lister.py
--- a/swh/lister/sourceforge/tests/test_lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/sourceforge/tests/test_lister.py
@@ -331,20 +331,33 @@
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("status_code", [500, 503, 504, 403, 404])
-def test_sourceforge_lister_http_error(swh_scheduler, requests_mock, status_code):
+def test_sourceforge_lister_http_error(
+    swh_scheduler, requests_mock, status_code, mocker
+):
     lister = SourceForgeLister(scheduler=swh_scheduler)
 
+    # Exponential retries take a long time, so stub time.sleep
+    mocked_sleep = mocker.patch.object(lister.page_request.retry, "sleep")
+
     requests_mock.get(MAIN_SITEMAP_URL, status_code=status_code)
 
     with pytest.raises(HTTPError):
         lister.run()
 
+    exp_retries = []
+    if status_code >= 500:
+        exp_retries = [1.0, 10.0, 100.0, 1000.0]
+
+    assert_sleep_calls(mocker, mocked_sleep, exp_retries)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("status_code", [500, 503, 504, 403, 404])
 def test_sourceforge_lister_project_error(
-    datadir, swh_scheduler, requests_mock, status_code,
+    datadir, swh_scheduler, requests_mock, status_code, mocker
 ):
     lister = SourceForgeLister(scheduler=swh_scheduler)
+    # Exponential retries take a long time, so stub time.sleep
+    mocker.patch.object(lister.page_request.retry, "sleep")
 
     requests_mock.get(
         MAIN_SITEMAP_URL,
diff --git a/swh/lister/utils.py b/swh/lister/utils.py
--- a/swh/lister/utils.py
+++ b/swh/lister/utils.py
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
-from typing import Iterator, Tuple
+from typing import Callable, Iterator, Tuple
 
-from requests.exceptions import HTTPError
+from requests.exceptions import ConnectionError, HTTPError
 from requests.status_codes import codes
 from tenacity import retry as tenacity_retry
 from tenacity.stop import stop_after_attempt
@@ -45,6 +45,16 @@
     )
 
 
+def is_retryable_exception(e: Exception) -> bool:
+    """
+    Checks if an exception is worth retrying (connection, throttling or a server error).
+    """
+    is_connection_error = isinstance(e, ConnectionError)
+    is_500_error = isinstance(e, HTTPError) and e.response.status_code >= 500
+
+    return is_connection_error or is_throttling_exception(e) or is_500_error
+
+
 def retry_attempt(retry_state):
     """
     Utility function to get last retry attempt info based on the
@@ -58,18 +68,37 @@
     return attempt
 
 
-def retry_if_throttling(retry_state) -> bool:
+def retry_if_exception(retry_state, predicate: Callable[[Exception], bool]) -> bool:
     """
-    Custom tenacity retry predicate for handling HTTP responses with
-    status code 429 (too many requests).
+    Custom tenacity retry predicate for handling exceptions with the given predicate.
     """
     attempt = retry_attempt(retry_state)
     if attempt.failed:
         exception = attempt.exception()
-        return is_throttling_exception(exception)
+        return predicate(exception)
     return False
 
 
+def retry_if_throttling(retry_state) -> bool:
+    """
+    Custom tenacity retry predicate for handling HTTP responses with
+    status code 429 (too many requests).
+    """
+    return retry_if_exception(retry_state, is_throttling_exception)
+
+
+def retry_policy_generic(retry_state) -> bool:
+    """
+    Custom tenacity retry predicate for handling failed requests:
+        - ConnectionError
+        - Server errors (status >= 500)
+        - Throttling errors (status == 429)
+
+    This does not handle 404, 403 or other status codes.
+    """
+    return retry_if_exception(retry_state, is_retryable_exception)
+
+
 WAIT_EXP_BASE = 10
 MAX_NUMBER_ATTEMPTS = 5