diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 2db2608d26..678c393c63 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 v2.6.0 (XXXX-XX-XX)
 -------------------
 
+* adjusted default configuration value for `--server.backlog-size` from 10 to 64.
+
 * issue #1231: bug xor feature in AQL: LENGTH(null) == 4 
 
   This changes the behavior of the AQL `LENGTH` function as follows:
diff --git a/lib/HttpServer/ApplicationEndpointServer.cpp b/lib/HttpServer/ApplicationEndpointServer.cpp
index c805e9dd77..4976847863 100644
--- a/lib/HttpServer/ApplicationEndpointServer.cpp
+++ b/lib/HttpServer/ApplicationEndpointServer.cpp
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ ApplicationEndpointServer::ApplicationEndpointServer (ApplicationServer* applica
     _keepAliveTimeout(300.0),
     _defaultApiCompatibility(0),
     _allowMethodOverride(false),
-    _backlogSize(10),
+    _backlogSize(64),
     _httpsKeyfile(),
     _cafile(),
     _sslProtocol(TLS_V1),
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ ApplicationEndpointServer::ApplicationEndpointServer (ApplicationServer* applica
     _sslContext(nullptr),
     _rctx() {
 
+  // if our default value is too high, we'll use half of the max value provided by the system
+  if (_backlogSize > SOMAXCONN) {
+    _backlogSize = SOMAXCONN / 2;
+  }
+
   _defaultApiCompatibility = Version::getNumericServerVersion();
 }