diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/BackendLoadStatistic.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/BackendLoadStatistic.java
index cb02c7415cf9a3..8740396f7fc964 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/BackendLoadStatistic.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/BackendLoadStatistic.java
@@ -270,6 +270,10 @@ public List<RootPathLoadStatistic> getPathStatistics() {
         return pathStatistics;
     }
 
+    public long getAvailPathNum() {
+        return pathStatistics.stream().filter(p -> p.getDiskState() == DiskState.ONLINE).count();
+    }
+
     public String getBrief() {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         sb.append(beId).append(": replica: ").append(totalReplicaNum);
diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/LoadBalancer.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/LoadBalancer.java
index ce14f412235227..abf81181bf6043 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/LoadBalancer.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/LoadBalancer.java
@@ -80,35 +80,40 @@ private List<TabletSchedCtx> selectAlternativeTabletsForCluster(
         List<TabletSchedCtx> alternativeTablets = Lists.newArrayList();
 
         // get classification of backends
-        List<BackendLoadStatistic> lowBe = Lists.newArrayList();
-        List<BackendLoadStatistic> midBe = Lists.newArrayList();
-        List<BackendLoadStatistic> highBe = Lists.newArrayList();
-        clusterStat.getBackendStatisticByClass(lowBe, midBe, highBe);
+        List<BackendLoadStatistic> lowBEs = Lists.newArrayList();
+        List<BackendLoadStatistic> midBEs = Lists.newArrayList();
+        List<BackendLoadStatistic> highBEs = Lists.newArrayList();
+        clusterStat.getBackendStatisticByClass(lowBEs, midBEs, highBEs);
         
-        if (lowBe.isEmpty() && highBe.isEmpty()) {
+        if (lowBEs.isEmpty() && highBEs.isEmpty()) {
             LOG.info("cluster is balance: {}. skip", clusterName);
             return alternativeTablets;
         }
 
         // first we should check if low backends is available.
         // if all low backends is not available, we should not start balance
-        if (lowBe.stream().allMatch(b -> !b.isAvailable())) {
+        if (lowBEs.stream().allMatch(b -> !b.isAvailable())) {
             LOG.info("all low load backends is dead: {}. skip",
-                    lowBe.stream().mapToLong(b -> b.getBeId()).toArray());
+                    lowBEs.stream().mapToLong(b -> b.getBeId()).toArray());
             return alternativeTablets;
         }
         
-        if (lowBe.stream().allMatch(b -> !b.hasAvailDisk())) {
+        if (lowBEs.stream().allMatch(b -> !b.hasAvailDisk())) {
             LOG.info("all low load backends have no available disk. skip",
-                    lowBe.stream().mapToLong(b -> b.getBeId()).toArray());
+                    lowBEs.stream().mapToLong(b -> b.getBeId()).toArray());
             return alternativeTablets;
         }
 
+        // get the number of low load paths. and we should at most select this number of tablets
+        long numOfLowPaths = lowBEs.stream().filter(b -> b.isAvailable() && b.hasAvailDisk()).mapToLong(
+                b -> b.getAvailPathNum()).sum();
+        LOG.info("get number of low load paths: {}", numOfLowPaths);
+
         // choose tablets from high load backends.
         // BackendLoadStatistic is sorted by load score in ascend order,
         // so we need to traverse it from last to first
-        for (int i = highBe.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
-            BackendLoadStatistic beStat = highBe.get(i);
+        OUTER: for (int i = highBEs.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+            BackendLoadStatistic beStat = highBEs.get(i);
 
             // classify the paths.
             Set<Long> pathLow = Sets.newHashSet();
@@ -156,6 +161,10 @@ private List<TabletSchedCtx> selectAlternativeTabletsForCluster(
                     tabletCtx.setOrigPriority(Priority.LOW);
 
                     alternativeTablets.add(tabletCtx);
+                    if (--numOfLowPaths <= 0) {
+                        // enough
+                        break OUTER;
+                    }
 
                     // update remaining paths
                     int remaining = remainingPaths.get(replicaPathHash) - 1;
diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/TabletScheduler.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/TabletScheduler.java
index ec2425552b68f0..08b50d3e032031 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/TabletScheduler.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/doris/clone/TabletScheduler.java
@@ -92,9 +92,12 @@ public class TabletScheduler extends Daemon {
 
     public static final int BALANCE_SLOT_NUM_FOR_PATH = 2;
 
-    // if the number of scheduled tablets in TabletScheduler exceed this threshold
+    // if the number of scheduled tablets in TabletScheduler exceed this threshold,
     // skip checking.
     public static final int MAX_SCHEDULING_TABLETS = 5000;
+    // if the number of balancing tablets in TabletScheduler exceed this threshold,
+    // no more balance check
+    public static final int MAX_BALANCING_TABLETS = 500;
 
     /*
      * Tablet is added to pendingTablets as well it's id in allTabletIds.
@@ -214,7 +217,7 @@ public synchronized AddResult addTablet(TabletSchedCtx tablet, boolean force) {
                 && (pendingTablets.size() > MAX_SCHEDULING_TABLETS || runningTablets.size() > MAX_SCHEDULING_TABLETS)) {
             return AddResult.LIMIT_EXCEED;
         }
-        
+
         allTabletIds.add(tablet.getTabletId());
         pendingTablets.offer(tablet);
         return AddResult.ADDED;
@@ -753,6 +756,13 @@ private void selectTabletsForBalance() {
             LOG.info("balance is disabled. skip selecting tablets for balance");
             return;
         }
+        
+        long numOfBalancingTablets = getBalanceTabletsNumber();
+        if (numOfBalancingTablets > MAX_BALANCING_TABLETS) {
+            LOG.info("number of balancing tablets {} exceed limit: {}, skip selecting tablets for balance",
+                    numOfBalancingTablets, MAX_BALANCING_TABLETS);
+            return;
+        }
 
         LoadBalancer loadBalancer = new LoadBalancer(statisticMap);
         List<TabletSchedCtx> alternativeTablets = loadBalancer.selectAlternativeTablets();
@@ -1055,6 +1065,11 @@ public synchronized int getTotalNum() {
         return allTabletIds.size();
     }
 
+    public synchronized long getBalanceTabletsNumber() {
+        return pendingTablets.stream().filter(t -> t.getType() == Type.BALANCE).count()
+                + runningTablets.values().stream().filter(t -> t.getType() == Type.BALANCE).count();
+    }
+
     /*
      * PathSlot keeps track of slot num per path of a Backend.
      * Each path on a Backend has several slot.