diff --git a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieCleanConfig.java b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieCleanConfig.java
index 3242a886a3f07..85af6a2d3e5be 100644
--- a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieCleanConfig.java
+++ b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieCleanConfig.java
@@ -127,6 +127,15 @@ public class HoodieCleanConfig extends HoodieConfig {
       .withDocumentation("When " + KEEP_LATEST_FILE_VERSIONS.name() + " cleaning policy is used, "
           + "the minimum number of file slices to retain in each file group, during cleaning.");
 
+  public static final ConfigProperty<String> MAX_COMMITS_TO_CLEAN = ConfigProperty
+      .key("hoodie.cleaner.max.commits.clean")
+      .defaultValue("200")
+      .withDocumentation("Max no. of instants to clean in a single clean call. This config is useful when clean is disabled or "
+          + "blocked from running for a while and enabled later. During that time, it can accumulate many commits to clean "
+          + "and run into memory issues. This config puts a cap on the no. of commits that can be cleaned. This is mainly applicable "
+          + "for incremental clean policy. To handle corner cases while reading we skip 1 commit before earliestCommitToRetain, "
+          + "so +1 will be added to maxInstantsToClean value. Set to -1 to disable.");
+
   public static final ConfigProperty<String> CLEAN_TRIGGER_STRATEGY = ConfigProperty
       .key("hoodie.clean.trigger.strategy")
       .defaultValue(CleaningTriggerStrategy.NUM_COMMITS.name())
@@ -379,6 +388,11 @@ public HoodieCleanConfig.Builder retainCommits(int commitsRetained) {
       return this;
     }
 
+    public HoodieCleanConfig.Builder maxCommitsToClean(int maxCommitsToClean) {
+      cleanConfig.setValue(MAX_COMMITS_TO_CLEAN, String.valueOf(maxCommitsToClean));
+      return this;
+    }
+
     public HoodieCleanConfig.Builder cleanerNumHoursRetained(int cleanerHoursRetained) {
       cleanConfig.setValue(CLEANER_HOURS_RETAINED, String.valueOf(cleanerHoursRetained));
       return this;
diff --git a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieWriteConfig.java b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieWriteConfig.java
index d68e3e6a94a72..89fb0c9b2488d 100644
--- a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieWriteConfig.java
+++ b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/config/HoodieWriteConfig.java
@@ -1749,6 +1749,10 @@ public int getCleanerHoursRetained() {
     return getInt(HoodieCleanConfig.CLEANER_HOURS_RETAINED);
   }
 
+  public int getMaxCommitsToClean() {
+    return getInt(HoodieCleanConfig.MAX_COMMITS_TO_CLEAN);
+  }
+
   public boolean isCleanOptimizationWithLocalEngineEnabled() {
     return getBoolean(HoodieCleanConfig.CLEAN_OPTIMIZE_USING_LOCAL_ENGINE_CONTEXT);
   }
diff --git a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/action/clean/CleanPlanner.java b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/action/clean/CleanPlanner.java
index 772f0a236219a..8009be1b98ce4 100644
--- a/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/action/clean/CleanPlanner.java
+++ b/hudi-client/hudi-client-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/table/action/clean/CleanPlanner.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
 import static org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.InstantComparison.GREATER_THAN;
 import static org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.InstantComparison.GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUALS;
 import static org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.InstantComparison.LESSER_THAN;
+import static org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.InstantComparison.LESSER_THAN_OR_EQUALS;
 import static org.apache.hudi.common.table.timeline.InstantComparison.compareTimestamps;
 
 /**
@@ -597,10 +598,66 @@ public Option<HoodieInstant> getEarliestCommitToRetain() {
           Instant.now(),
           config.getCleanerHoursRetained(),
           hoodieTable.getMetaClient().getTableConfig().getTimelineTimezone());
+      log.info("EarliestCommitToRetain is {} after CleanerUtils.getEarliestCommitToRetain",
+          earliestCommitToRetain.map(HoodieInstant::requestedTime).orElse("null"));
+      earliestCommitToRetain = getEarliestCommitToRetainConsideringSafety(earliestCommitToRetain);
+      log.info("EarliestCommitToRetain is {} after getEarliestCommitToRetainConsideringSafety",
+          earliestCommitToRetain.map(HoodieInstant::requestedTime).orElse("null"));
     }
     return earliestCommitToRetain;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Caps the number of instants to clean in a single clean call and ensures ordering of
+   * earliest commit to retain across cleans (ECTR must be monotonically increasing).
+   */
+  private Option<HoodieInstant> getEarliestCommitToRetainConsideringSafety(Option<HoodieInstant> earliestCommitToRetain) {
+    if (!earliestCommitToRetain.isPresent()) {
+      return earliestCommitToRetain;
+    }
+    try {
+      Option<HoodieInstant> lastClean = hoodieTable.getCleanTimeline().filterCompletedInstants().lastInstant();
+      String previousEarliestCommitToRetain;
+      if (lastClean.isPresent()) {
+        HoodieCleanMetadata cleanMetadata = hoodieTable.getActiveTimeline().readCleanMetadata(lastClean.get());
+        if (cleanMetadata == null || cleanMetadata.getEarliestCommitToRetain() == null) {
+          log.warn("Empty clean metadata found for {}", lastClean.get());
+          previousEarliestCommitToRetain = HoodieTimeline.INIT_INSTANT_TS;
+        } else {
+          previousEarliestCommitToRetain = cleanMetadata.getEarliestCommitToRetain();
+          if (!StringUtils.isNullOrEmpty(previousEarliestCommitToRetain)) {
+            if (compareTimestamps(earliestCommitToRetain.get().requestedTime(),
+                LESSER_THAN_OR_EQUALS,
+                previousEarliestCommitToRetain)) {
+              log.info("earliestCommitToRetain {} is less than or equal to previousEarliestCommitToRetain {}.",
+                  earliestCommitToRetain.get().requestedTime(), previousEarliestCommitToRetain);
+              return Option.empty();
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      } else {
+        previousEarliestCommitToRetain = HoodieTimeline.INIT_INSTANT_TS;
+      }
+      if (config.getMaxCommitsToClean() == -1) {
+        return earliestCommitToRetain;
+      }
+      int maxInstantsToClean = config.getMaxCommitsToClean() + 1;
+
+      Option<HoodieInstant> maxInstant = getCommitTimeline()
+          .findInstantsAfter(previousEarliestCommitToRetain, maxInstantsToClean + 1)
+          .lastInstant();
+      if (!maxInstant.isPresent()) {
+        return Option.empty();
+      }
+      return compareTimestamps(
+          earliestCommitToRetain.get().requestedTime(),
+          LESSER_THAN,
+          maxInstant.get().requestedTime()) ? earliestCommitToRetain : maxInstant;
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new HoodieIOException(e.getMessage(), e);
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns the last completed commit timestamp before clean.
    */