diff --git a/src/plasma/eviction_policy.c b/src/plasma/eviction_policy.c
index 77ed07b71..fc2533387 100644
--- a/src/plasma/eviction_policy.c
+++ b/src/plasma/eviction_policy.c
@@ -168,11 +168,13 @@ void require_space(eviction_state *eviction_state,
   int64_t required_space =
       eviction_state->memory_used + size - eviction_state->memory_capacity;
   if (required_space > 0) {
-    /* Try to free up as much free space as we need right now. */
+    /* Try to free up at least as much space as we need right now but ideally
+     * up to 20% of the total capacity. */
+    int64_t space_to_free = MAX(size, eviction_state->memory_capacity / 5);
     LOG_DEBUG("not enough space to create this object, so evicting objects");
     /* Choose some objects to evict, and update the return pointers. */
     int64_t num_bytes_evicted = choose_objects_to_evict(
-        eviction_state, plasma_store_info, required_space, num_objects_to_evict,
+        eviction_state, plasma_store_info, space_to_free, num_objects_to_evict,
         objects_to_evict);
     printf("Evicted %" PRId64 " bytes.\n", num_bytes_evicted);
     LOG_INFO(