diff --git a/etcdserver/raft.go b/etcdserver/raft.go
index 02e8d61ec30..a2525844f96 100644
--- a/etcdserver/raft.go
+++ b/etcdserver/raft.go
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/wal/walpb"
 )
 
+const (
+	// Number of entries for slow follower to catch-up after compacting
+	// the raft storage entries.
+	// We expect the follower has a millisecond level latency with the leader.
+	// The max throughput is around 10K. Keep a 5K entries is enough for helping
+	// follower to catch up.
+	numberOfCatchUpEntries = 5000
+)
+
 var (
 	// indirection for expvar func interface
 	// expvar panics when publishing duplicate name
diff --git a/etcdserver/server.go b/etcdserver/server.go
index 3cefd27ff69..48862b0efd3 100644
--- a/etcdserver/server.go
+++ b/etcdserver/server.go
@@ -836,8 +836,14 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) snapshot(snapi uint64, confState raftpb.ConfState) {
 		if err := s.r.storage.SaveSnap(snap); err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("etcdserver: save snapshot error: %v", err)
 		}
+		log.Printf("etcdserver: saved snapshot at index %d", snap.Metadata.Index)
 
-		err = s.r.raftStorage.Compact(snapi)
+		// keep some in memory log entries for slow followers.
+		compacti := uint64(1)
+		if snapi > numberOfCatchUpEntries {
+			compacti = snapi - numberOfCatchUpEntries
+		}
+		err = s.r.raftStorage.Compact(compacti)
 		if err != nil {
 			// the compaction was done asynchronously with the progress of raft.
 			// raft log might already been compact.
@@ -846,7 +852,7 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) snapshot(snapi uint64, confState raftpb.ConfState) {
 			}
 			log.Panicf("etcdserver: unexpected compaction error %v", err)
 		}
-		log.Printf("etcdserver: saved snapshot at index %d", snap.Metadata.Index)
+		log.Printf("etcdserver: compacted raft log at %d", compacti)
 	}()
 }