diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/Optimizer.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/Optimizer.scala
index 105623c767d6..0fa8e89bebbf 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/Optimizer.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/Optimizer.scala
@@ -631,19 +631,26 @@ object ColumnPruning extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
 object CollapseProject extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
 
   def apply(plan: LogicalPlan): LogicalPlan = plan transformUp {
-    case p1 @ Project(_, p2: Project) =>
-      if (haveCommonNonDeterministicOutput(p1.projectList, p2.projectList)) {
-        p1
-      } else {
-        p2.copy(projectList = buildCleanedProjectList(p1.projectList, p2.projectList))
-      }
+    case p1@Project(_, p2: Project) =>
+      maybeGetCollapsedAndCleanedProjectList(p1, p2.projectList)
+        .map(cleanedProjectList => p2.copy(projectList = cleanedProjectList))
+        .getOrElse(p1)
     case p @ Project(_, agg: Aggregate) =>
-      if (haveCommonNonDeterministicOutput(p.projectList, agg.aggregateExpressions)) {
-        p
-      } else {
-        agg.copy(aggregateExpressions = buildCleanedProjectList(
-          p.projectList, agg.aggregateExpressions))
+      maybeGetCollapsedAndCleanedProjectList(p, agg.aggregateExpressions)
+        .map(cleanedProjectList => agg.copy(aggregateExpressions = cleanedProjectList))
+        .getOrElse(p)
+  }
+
+  private def maybeGetCollapsedAndCleanedProjectList(
+      upper: Project,
+      lowerProjectList: Seq[NamedExpression]): Option[Seq[NamedExpression]] = {
+    if (!haveCommonNonDeterministicOutput(upper.projectList, lowerProjectList)) {
+      val cleanedProjectList = buildCleanedProjectList(upper.projectList, lowerProjectList)
+      if (isNumberOfLeafExpressionsBelowLimit(cleanedProjectList)) {
+        return Option.apply(cleanedProjectList)
       }
+    }
+    Option.empty
   }
 
   private def collectAliases(projectList: Seq[NamedExpression]): AttributeMap[Alias] = {
@@ -684,6 +691,18 @@ object CollapseProject extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
       CleanupAliases.trimNonTopLevelAliases(p).asInstanceOf[NamedExpression]
     }
   }
+
+  private def isNumberOfLeafExpressionsBelowLimit(projectList: Seq[NamedExpression]): Boolean = {
+    SQLConf.get.optimizerMaxNumOfLeafExpressionsInCollapsedProject < 0 ||
+      numberOfLeafExpressions(projectList) <=
+        SQLConf.get.optimizerMaxNumOfLeafExpressionsInCollapsedProject
+  }
+
+  private def numberOfLeafExpressions(projectList: Seq[Expression]): Long = {
+    projectList
+      .map(expr => if (expr.children.nonEmpty) numberOfLeafExpressions(expr.children) else 1)
+      .sum
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
index edc1a488150c..4c2336737dda 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
@@ -143,6 +143,15 @@ object SQLConf {
     .intConf
     .createWithDefault(100)
 
+  val OPTIMIZER_MAX_NUM_OF_LEAF_EXPRESSIONS_IN_COLLAPSED_PROJECT =
+    buildConf("spark.sql.optimizer.maxNumOfLeafExpressionsInCollapsedProject")
+      .internal()
+      .doc("Sets the maximum number of leaf expressions that a project is allowed to " +
+        "have after collapsing. If the collapsed project would have more leaf expressions " +
+        "than this number then the optimizer won't collapse. Set to -1 to disable.")
+      .longConf
+      .createWithDefault(10000)
+
   val OPTIMIZER_INSET_CONVERSION_THRESHOLD =
     buildConf("spark.sql.optimizer.inSetConversionThreshold")
       .internal()
@@ -1477,6 +1486,9 @@ class SQLConf extends Serializable with Logging {
 
   def optimizerMaxIterations: Int = getConf(OPTIMIZER_MAX_ITERATIONS)
 
+  def optimizerMaxNumOfLeafExpressionsInCollapsedProject: Long =
+    getConf(OPTIMIZER_MAX_NUM_OF_LEAF_EXPRESSIONS_IN_COLLAPSED_PROJECT)
+
   def optimizerInSetConversionThreshold: Int = getConf(OPTIMIZER_INSET_CONVERSION_THRESHOLD)
 
   def stateStoreProviderClass: String = getConf(STATE_STORE_PROVIDER_CLASS)
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/CollapseProjectSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/CollapseProjectSuite.scala
index e7a5bcee420f..10381c5f08e4 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/CollapseProjectSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/CollapseProjectSuite.scala
@@ -138,4 +138,16 @@ class CollapseProjectSuite extends PlanTest {
     assert(projects.size === 1)
     assert(hasMetadata(optimized))
   }
+
+  test("do not collapse if number of leave expressions would be too big") {
+    var query: LogicalPlan = testRelation
+    for( a <- 1 to 13) {
+      // after n iterations the number of leaf expressions will be 2^{n+1}
+      // => after 13 iterations we would end up with more than 10000 leaf expressions
+      query = query.select(('a + 'b).as('a), ('a - 'b).as('b))
+    }
+
+    val projects = Optimize.execute(query.analyze).collect { case p: Project => p }
+    assert(projects.size === 2) // everything should be collapsed except the last one
+  }
 }