diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentDispatcherMultipleConsumers.java b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentDispatcherMultipleConsumers.java
index a770e76fc4368..a7d52dcc0980b 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentDispatcherMultipleConsumers.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/persistent/PersistentDispatcherMultipleConsumers.java
@@ -572,6 +572,9 @@ protected void sendMessagesToConsumers(ReadType readType, List<Entry> entries) {
 
             // round-robin dispatch batch size for this consumer
             int availablePermits = c.isWritable() ? c.getAvailablePermits() : 1;
+            if (c.getMaxUnackedMessages() > 0) {
+                availablePermits = Math.min(availablePermits, c.getMaxUnackedMessages() - c.getUnackedMessages());
+            }
             if (log.isDebugEnabled() && !c.isWritable()) {
                 log.debug("[{}-{}] consumer is not writable. dispatching only 1 message to {}; "
                                 + "availablePermits are {}", topic.getName(), name,
diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/SimpleProducerConsumerTest.java b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/SimpleProducerConsumerTest.java
index 8205dbe935b79..d4c124d607a0e 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/SimpleProducerConsumerTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/SimpleProducerConsumerTest.java
@@ -1591,6 +1591,46 @@ public void testConsumerBlockingWithUnAckedMessagesMultipleIteration(boolean ack
         }
     }
 
+    @Test(dataProvider = "ackReceiptEnabled")
+    public void testMaxUnAckMessagesLowerThanPermits(boolean ackReceiptEnabled) throws PulsarClientException {
+        final int maxUnacks = 10;
+        pulsar.getConfiguration().setMaxUnackedMessagesPerConsumer(maxUnacks);
+        final String topic = "persistent://my-property/my-ns/testMaxUnAckMessagesLowerThanPermits";
+
+        @Cleanup
+        Consumer<String> consumer = pulsarClient.newConsumer(Schema.STRING)
+                .topic(topic).subscriptionName("sub")
+                .subscriptionType(SubscriptionType.Shared)
+                .isAckReceiptEnabled(ackReceiptEnabled)
+                .acknowledgmentGroupTime(0, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+                .subscribe();
+
+        @Cleanup
+        Producer<String> producer = pulsarClient.newProducer(Schema.STRING)
+                .enableBatching(false)
+                .topic(topic)
+                .create();
+
+        final int messages = 1000;
+        for (int i = 0; i < messages; i++) {
+            producer.sendAsync("Message - " + i);
+        }
+        producer.flush();
+        List<MessageId> receives = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < maxUnacks; i++) {
+            Message<String> received =  consumer.receive();
+            log.info("Received message {} with message ID {}", received.getValue(), received.getMessageId());
+            receives.add(received.getMessageId());
+        }
+        assertNull(consumer.receive(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+        consumer.acknowledge(receives);
+        for (int i = 0; i < messages - maxUnacks; i++) {
+            Message<String> received =  consumer.receive();
+            log.info("Received message {} with message ID {}", received.getValue(), received.getMessageId());
+            consumer.acknowledge(received);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Verify: Consumer1 which doesn't send ack will not impact Consumer2 which sends ack for consumed message.
      *
diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/v1/V1_ProducerConsumerTest.java b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/v1/V1_ProducerConsumerTest.java
index 9679620c35724..c241b6e6cc76c 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/v1/V1_ProducerConsumerTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/api/v1/V1_ProducerConsumerTest.java
@@ -1700,7 +1700,7 @@ public void testBlockUnackedConsumerRedeliverySpecificMessagesCloseConsumerWhile
             }
 
             // client should not receive all produced messages and should be blocked due to unack-messages
-            assertEquals(messages1.size(), receiverQueueSize);
+            assertEquals(messages1.size(), unAckedMessagesBufferSize);
             Set<MessageIdImpl> redeliveryMessages = messages1.stream().map(m -> {
                 return (MessageIdImpl) m.getMessageId();
             }).collect(Collectors.toSet());