diff --git a/pkg/es/config/config.go b/pkg/es/config/config.go
index e53c806ae50..13749781966 100644
--- a/pkg/es/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/es/config/config.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ type Configuration struct {
 	Username          string
 	Password          string
 	Sniffer           bool          // https://github.com/olivere/elastic/wiki/Sniffing
+	MaxNumSpans       int           // defines maximum number of spans to fetch from storage per query
 	MaxSpanAge        time.Duration `yaml:"max_span_age"` // configures the maximum lookback on span reads
 	NumShards         int64         `yaml:"shards"`
 	NumReplicas       int64         `yaml:"replicas"`
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ type ClientBuilder interface {
 	GetNumShards() int64
 	GetNumReplicas() int64
 	GetMaxSpanAge() time.Duration
+	GetMaxNumSpans() int
 	GetIndexPrefix() string
 	GetTagsFilePath() string
 	GetAllTagsAsFields() bool
@@ -151,6 +153,9 @@ func (c *Configuration) ApplyDefaults(source *Configuration) {
 	if c.MaxSpanAge == 0 {
 		c.MaxSpanAge = source.MaxSpanAge
 	}
+	if c.MaxNumSpans == 0 {
+		c.MaxNumSpans = source.MaxNumSpans
+	}
 	if c.NumShards == 0 {
 		c.NumShards = source.NumShards
 	}
@@ -186,6 +191,11 @@ func (c *Configuration) GetMaxSpanAge() time.Duration {
 	return c.MaxSpanAge
 }
 
+// GetMaxNumSpans returns max spans allowed per query from Configuration
+func (c *Configuration) GetMaxNumSpans() int {
+	return c.MaxNumSpans
+}
+
 // GetIndexPrefix returns index prefix
 func (c *Configuration) GetIndexPrefix() string {
 	return c.IndexPrefix
diff --git a/plugin/storage/es/factory.go b/plugin/storage/es/factory.go
index 75ae4e6ccb8..dc1480b2527 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/es/factory.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/es/factory.go
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ func (f *Factory) CreateSpanReader() (spanstore.Reader, error) {
 		Logger:            f.logger,
 		MetricsFactory:    f.metricsFactory,
 		MaxSpanAge:        cfg.GetMaxSpanAge(),
+		MaxNumSpans:       cfg.GetMaxNumSpans(),
 		IndexPrefix:       cfg.GetIndexPrefix(),
 		TagDotReplacement: cfg.GetTagDotReplacement(),
 	}), nil
diff --git a/plugin/storage/es/options.go b/plugin/storage/es/options.go
index 8d85ba0220e..df7b57330b3 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/es/options.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/es/options.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ const (
 	suffixSniffer           = ".sniffer"
 	suffixServerURLs        = ".server-urls"
 	suffixMaxSpanAge        = ".max-span-age"
+	suffixMaxNumSpans       = ".max-num-spans"
 	suffixNumShards         = ".num-shards"
 	suffixNumReplicas       = ".num-replicas"
 	suffixBulkSize          = ".bulk.size"
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ func NewOptions(primaryNamespace string, otherNamespaces ...string) *Options {
 				Password:          "",
 				Sniffer:           false,
 				MaxSpanAge:        72 * time.Hour,
+				MaxNumSpans:       10000,
 				NumShards:         5,
 				NumReplicas:       1,
 				BulkSize:          5 * 1000 * 1000,
@@ -132,6 +134,10 @@ func addFlags(flagSet *flag.FlagSet, nsConfig *namespaceConfig) {
 		nsConfig.namespace+suffixMaxSpanAge,
 		nsConfig.MaxSpanAge,
 		"The maximum lookback for spans in ElasticSearch")
+	flagSet.Int(
+		nsConfig.namespace+suffixMaxNumSpans,
+		nsConfig.MaxNumSpans,
+		"The maximum number of spans to fetch at a time per query in Elasticsearch")
 	flagSet.Int64(
 		nsConfig.namespace+suffixNumShards,
 		nsConfig.NumShards,
@@ -204,6 +210,7 @@ func initFromViper(cfg *namespaceConfig, v *viper.Viper) {
 	cfg.Sniffer = v.GetBool(cfg.namespace + suffixSniffer)
 	cfg.servers = v.GetString(cfg.namespace + suffixServerURLs)
 	cfg.MaxSpanAge = v.GetDuration(cfg.namespace + suffixMaxSpanAge)
+	cfg.MaxNumSpans = v.GetInt(cfg.namespace + suffixMaxNumSpans)
 	cfg.NumShards = v.GetInt64(cfg.namespace + suffixNumShards)
 	cfg.NumReplicas = v.GetInt64(cfg.namespace + suffixNumReplicas)
 	cfg.BulkSize = v.GetInt(cfg.namespace + suffixBulkSize)
diff --git a/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go b/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
index b42e97cef1f..aa3a229f125 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/es/spanstore/reader.go
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ type SpanReader struct {
 	// The age of the oldest service/operation we will look for. Because indices in ElasticSearch are by day,
 	// this will be rounded down to UTC 00:00 of that day.
 	maxSpanAge              time.Duration
+	maxNumSpans             int
 	serviceOperationStorage *ServiceOperationStorage
 	spanIndexPrefix         string
 	serviceIndexPrefix      string
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ type SpanReaderParams struct {
 	Client                  es.Client
 	Logger                  *zap.Logger
 	MaxSpanAge              time.Duration
+	MaxNumSpans             int
 	MetricsFactory          metrics.Factory
 	serviceOperationStorage *ServiceOperationStorage
 	IndexPrefix             string
@@ -124,6 +126,7 @@ func newSpanReader(p SpanReaderParams) *SpanReader {
 		client:                  p.Client,
 		logger:                  p.Logger,
 		maxSpanAge:              p.MaxSpanAge,
+		maxNumSpans:             p.MaxNumSpans,
 		serviceOperationStorage: NewServiceOperationStorage(ctx, p.Client, p.Logger, 0), // the decorator takes care of metrics
 		spanIndexPrefix:         p.IndexPrefix + spanIndex,
 		serviceIndexPrefix:      p.IndexPrefix + serviceIndex,
@@ -270,7 +273,7 @@ func (s *SpanReader) multiRead(ctx context.Context, traceIDs []string, startTime
 			if val, ok := searchAfterTime[traceID]; ok {
 				nextTime = val
 			}
-			searchRequests[i] = elastic.NewSearchRequest().IgnoreUnavailable(true).Type(spanType).Source(elastic.NewSearchSource().Query(query).Size(defaultDocCount).Sort("startTime", true).SearchAfter(nextTime))
+			searchRequests[i] = elastic.NewSearchRequest().IgnoreUnavailable(true).Type(spanType).Source(elastic.NewSearchSource().Query(query).Size(defaultDocCount).TerminateAfter(s.maxNumSpans).Sort("startTime", true).SearchAfter(nextTime))
 		}
 		// set traceIDs to empty
 		traceIDs = nil