diff --git a/dao-impl/ebean-dao/src/main/java/com/linkedin/metadata/dao/EbeanLocalDAO.java b/dao-impl/ebean-dao/src/main/java/com/linkedin/metadata/dao/EbeanLocalDAO.java
index 2639047f8..ba9a99f9f 100644
--- a/dao-impl/ebean-dao/src/main/java/com/linkedin/metadata/dao/EbeanLocalDAO.java
+++ b/dao-impl/ebean-dao/src/main/java/com/linkedin/metadata/dao/EbeanLocalDAO.java
@@ -79,7 +79,9 @@ public class EbeanLocalDAO<ASPECT_UNION extends UnionTemplate, URN extends Urn>
 
   protected final EbeanServer _server;
   protected final Class<URN> _urnClass;
-  private int _queryKeysCount = 0; // 0 means no pagination on keys
+
+  private final static int DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE = 50;
+  private int _queryKeysCount = DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE;
   private IEbeanLocalAccess<URN> _localAccess;
   private UrnPathExtractor<URN> _urnPathExtractor;
   private SchemaConfig _schemaConfig = SchemaConfig.OLD_SCHEMA_ONLY;
@@ -899,9 +901,12 @@ protected <ASPECT extends RecordTemplate> void applyTimeBasedRetention(@Nonnull
     if (keys.isEmpty()) {
       return Collections.emptyMap();
     }
-
-    final List<EbeanMetadataAspect> records = batchGet(keys, keys.size());
-
+    final List<EbeanMetadataAspect> records;
+    if (_queryKeysCount == 0) {
+      records = batchGet(keys, keys.size());
+    } else {
+      records = batchGet(keys, _queryKeysCount);
+    }
     final Map<AspectKey<URN, ? extends RecordTemplate>, AspectWithExtraInfo<? extends RecordTemplate>> result =
         new HashMap<>();
     keys.forEach(key -> records.stream()
@@ -941,13 +946,18 @@ public boolean exists(@Nonnull URN urn) {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Sets the max keys allowed for each single query.
+   * Sets the max keys allowed for each single query, not allowed more than the default batch size.
    */
   public void setQueryKeysCount(int keysCount) {
     if (keysCount < 0) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Query keys count must be non-negative: " + keysCount);
+    } else if (keysCount > DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE) {
+      log.warn("Setting query keys count greater than " + DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE
+          + " may cause performance issues. Defaulting to " + DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE + ".");
+      _queryKeysCount = DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE;
+    } else {
+      _queryKeysCount = keysCount;
     }
-    _queryKeysCount = keysCount;
   }
 
   /**