diff --git a/src/udev/udevd.c b/src/udev/udevd.c
index 254a72556e..006cdd3501 100644
--- a/src/udev/udevd.c
+++ b/src/udev/udevd.c
@@ -1673,12 +1673,16 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
         if (arg_children_max == 0) {
                 cpu_set_t cpu_set;
+                unsigned long mem_limit;
 
                 arg_children_max = 8;
 
                 if (sched_getaffinity(0, sizeof(cpu_set), &cpu_set) == 0)
                         arg_children_max += CPU_COUNT(&cpu_set) * 2;
 
+                mem_limit = physical_memory() / (128LU*1024*1024);
+                arg_children_max = MAX(10U, MIN(arg_children_max, mem_limit));
+
                 log_debug("set children_max to %u", arg_children_max);
         }