diff --git a/dledger/src/main/java/io/openmessaging/storage/dledger/DLedgerEntryPusher.java b/dledger/src/main/java/io/openmessaging/storage/dledger/DLedgerEntryPusher.java
index 19d433ee..33b300b2 100644
--- a/dledger/src/main/java/io/openmessaging/storage/dledger/DLedgerEntryPusher.java
+++ b/dledger/src/main/java/io/openmessaging/storage/dledger/DLedgerEntryPusher.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package io.openmessaging.storage.dledger;
 
 import com.alibaba.fastjson.JSON;
+
+import io.openmessaging.storage.dledger.DLedgerEntryPusher.EntryDispatcherState;
 import io.openmessaging.storage.dledger.common.Closure;
 import io.openmessaging.storage.dledger.common.ShutdownAbleThread;
 import io.openmessaging.storage.dledger.common.Status;
@@ -55,6 +57,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
@@ -180,12 +183,33 @@ public int getPendingCount(long currTerm) {
         return pendings.size();
     }
 
+    public long getPendingSize(long currTerm) {
+        if (dispatcherMap == null) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+        long total = 0;
+        for (EntryDispatcher dispatcher : dispatcherMap.values()) {
+            total += dispatcher.pendingTotalSize.get();
+        }
+        return total;
+    }
+
     public boolean isPendingFull(long currTerm) {
         checkTermForPendingMap(currTerm, "isPendingFull");
         if (dLedgerStore.isLocalToomuchUncommitted()) {
             return true;
         }
-        return pendingClosure.get(currTerm).size() > dLedgerConfig.getMaxPendingRequestsNum();
+        if (pendingClosure.get(currTerm).size() > dLedgerConfig.getMaxPendingRequestsNum()) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        // avoid too much memory in pending if more than half followers fall behind too much
+        int fallBehindTooMuch = 0;
+        for (EntryDispatcher dispatcher : dispatcherMap.values()) {
+            if (dispatcher.pendingTotalSize.get() >= dLedgerConfig.getPeerPushPendingMaxBytes()) {
+                fallBehindTooMuch++;
+            }
+        }
+        return fallBehindTooMuch > dispatcherMap.size() / 2;
     }
 
     public void appendClosure(Closure closure, long term, long index) {
@@ -409,6 +433,8 @@ private class EntryDispatcher extends ShutdownAbleThread {
         private long matchIndex = -1;
 
         private final int maxPendingSize = 1000;
+        private AtomicLong pendingTotalSize = new AtomicLong(0);
+
         private long term = -1;
         private String leaderId = null;
         private long lastCheckLeakTimeMs = System.currentTimeMillis();
@@ -715,6 +741,10 @@ private void doAppend() throws Exception {
                     doCheckAppendResponse();
                     break;
                 }
+                if (pendingTotalSize.get() >= dLedgerConfig.getPeerPushPendingMaxBytes()) {
+                    // to avoid oom or fullgc, we should wait for a while if too much pending big entry size 
+                    break;
+                }
                 long lastIndexToBeSend = doAppendInner(writeIndex);
                 if (lastIndexToBeSend == -1) {
                     break;
@@ -759,8 +789,10 @@ private void sendBatchAppendEntryRequest() throws Exception {
             StopWatch watch = StopWatch.createStarted();
             CompletableFuture<PushEntryResponse> responseFuture = dLedgerRpcService.push(batchAppendEntryRequest);
             pendingMap.put(firstIndex, new Pair<>(System.currentTimeMillis(), batchAppendEntryRequest.getCount()));
+            pendingTotalSize.addAndGet(entriesSize);
             responseFuture.whenComplete((x, ex) -> {
                 try {
+                    pendingTotalSize.addAndGet(-1 * entriesSize);
                     PreConditions.check(ex == null, DLedgerResponseCode.UNKNOWN);
                     DLedgerResponseCode responseCode = DLedgerResponseCode.valueOf(x.getCode());
                     switch (responseCode) {