diff --git a/tokenizers/src/models/bpe/trainer.rs b/tokenizers/src/models/bpe/trainer.rs
index cefc03a5..e4d4342c 100644
--- a/tokenizers/src/models/bpe/trainer.rs
+++ b/tokenizers/src/models/bpe/trainer.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ pub struct BpeTrainer {
     pub min_frequency: u32,
     pub vocab_size: usize,
     pub show_progress: bool,
+    pub special_tokens: Vec<String>,
+    pub limit_alphabet: Option<usize>,
 }
 
 impl Default for BpeTrainer {
@@ -35,6 +37,8 @@ impl Default for BpeTrainer {
             min_frequency: 0,
             vocab_size: 30000,
             show_progress: true,
+            special_tokens: vec![],
+            limit_alphabet: Some(100),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -47,6 +51,90 @@ impl BpeTrainer {
             ..Default::default()
         }
     }
+
+    /// Setup a progress bar if asked to show progress
+    fn setup_progress(&self) -> Option<ProgressBar> {
+        if self.show_progress {
+            let p = ProgressBar::new(0);
+            p.set_style(
+                ProgressStyle::default_bar()
+                    .template("[{elapsed_precise}] {msg:30} {bar:40} {pos:>7}/{len:7}"),
+            );
+            Some(p)
+        } else {
+            None
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Set the progress bar in the finish state
+    fn finalize_progress(&self, p: &Option<ProgressBar>, final_len: usize) {
+        if let Some(p) = p {
+            p.set_length(final_len as u64);
+            p.finish();
+            println!();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Update the progress bar with the new provided length and message
+    fn update_progress(&self, p: &Option<ProgressBar>, len: usize, message: &str) {
+        if let Some(p) = p {
+            p.set_message(message);
+            p.set_length(len as u64);
+            p.reset();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Add the provided special tokens to the initial vocabulary
+    fn add_special_tokens(&self, w2id: &mut HashMap<String, u32>, id2w: &mut Vec<String>) {
+        for token in &self.special_tokens {
+            if !w2id.contains_key(token) {
+                id2w.push(token.to_owned());
+                w2id.insert(token.to_owned(), (id2w.len() - 1) as u32);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Compute the initial alphabet and limit it if relevant
+    fn limit_alphabet(
+        &self,
+        wc: &HashMap<String, u32>,
+        w2id: &mut HashMap<String, u32>,
+        id2w: &mut Vec<String>,
+    ) {
+        let mut alphabet: HashMap<char, usize> = HashMap::new();
+        for (word, count) in wc {
+            for c in word.chars() {
+                alphabet
+                    .entry(c)
+                    .and_modify(|cnt| *cnt += *count as usize)
+                    .or_insert(*count as usize);
+            }
+        }
+
+        let to_remove = if let Some(limit) = self.limit_alphabet {
+            alphabet.len() - limit
+        } else {
+            0
+        };
+
+        let mut kept = alphabet.iter().collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        kept.sort_unstable_by_key(|k| *k.1);
+
+        // Remove the unwanted chars
+        if to_remove > 0 {
+            kept.drain(..to_remove);
+        }
+
+        // Keep the initial alphabet
+        kept.sort_unstable_by_key(|k| (*k.0) as u32);
+        kept.into_iter().for_each(|(c, _)| {
+            let s = c.to_string();
+            if !w2id.contains_key(&s) {
+                id2w.push(s.clone());
+                w2id.insert(s, (id2w.len() - 1) as u32);
+            }
+        });
+    }
 }
 
 impl Trainer for BpeTrainer {
@@ -57,32 +145,31 @@ impl Trainer for BpeTrainer {
         let mut word_to_id: HashMap<String, u32> = HashMap::new();
         let mut id_to_word: Vec<String> = vec![];
 
-        let progress = if self.show_progress {
-            let p = ProgressBar::new(word_counts.len() as u64);
-            p.set_style(
-                ProgressStyle::default_bar()
-                    .template("[{elapsed_precise}] {msg:30} {bar:40} {pos:>7}/{len:7}"),
-            );
-            p.set_message("Tokenize words");
-            Some(p)
-        } else {
-            None
-        };
+        let progress = self.setup_progress();
 
         //
-        // 1. Tokenize words
+        // 1. Add all special tokens to the vocabulary
         //
+        self.add_special_tokens(&mut word_to_id, &mut id_to_word);
+
+        //
+        // 2. Limit the initial alphabet if relevant
+        //
+        self.limit_alphabet(&word_counts, &mut word_to_id, &mut id_to_word);
+
+        //
+        // 3. Tokenize words
+        //
+        self.update_progress(&progress, word_counts.len(), "Tokenize words");
         for (word, count) in &word_counts {
             let mut current_word = Word::new();
             counts.push(*count as i32);
 
             for c in word.chars() {
                 let s = c.to_string();
-                if !word_to_id.contains_key(&s) {
-                    id_to_word.push(s.clone());
-                    word_to_id.insert(s.clone(), (id_to_word.len() - 1) as u32);
+                if let Some(id) = word_to_id.get(&s) {
+                    current_word.add(*id);
                 }
-                current_word.add(word_to_id[&s]);
             }
             words.push(current_word);
 
@@ -90,15 +177,12 @@ impl Trainer for BpeTrainer {
                 p.inc(1);
             }
         }
+        self.finalize_progress(&progress, words.len());
 
         //
-        // 2. Count pairs in words
+        // 4. Count pairs in words
         //
-        if let Some(p) = &progress {
-            p.set_message("Count pairs");
-            p.set_length(words.len() as u64);
-            p.reset();
-        }
+        self.update_progress(&progress, words.len(), "Count pairs");
         let mut pair_counts: HashMap<Pair, (i32, Pair)> = HashMap::new();
         let mut where_to_update: HashMap<Pair, HashSet<usize>> = HashMap::new();
         for (index, word) in words.iter().enumerate() {
@@ -128,15 +212,12 @@ impl Trainer for BpeTrainer {
                 p.inc(1);
             }
         }
+        self.finalize_progress(&progress, words.len());
 
         //
-        // 3. Do merges
+        // 5. Do merges
         //
-        if let Some(p) = &progress {
-            p.set_message("Compute merges");
-            p.set_length(self.vocab_size as u64);
-            p.reset();
-        }
+        self.update_progress(&progress, self.vocab_size, "Compute merges");
         let mut merges: Vec<(Pair, u32)> = vec![];
         loop {
             // Stop as soon as we have a big enough vocabulary
@@ -206,6 +287,7 @@ impl Trainer for BpeTrainer {
                 p.inc(1);
             }
         }
+        self.finalize_progress(&progress, merges.len());
 
         Ok(Box::new(BPE::new(
             word_to_id.clone(),