diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index de68cb64aa9..18d44c93b53 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3305,6 +3305,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "crc32fast",
  "data_types",
+ "futures",
  "futures-util",
  "hashbrown 0.15.3",
  "humantime",
diff --git a/influxdb3_wal/Cargo.toml b/influxdb3_wal/Cargo.toml
index 16e76aa6aae..ba87a25cced 100644
--- a/influxdb3_wal/Cargo.toml
+++ b/influxdb3_wal/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ bitcode.workspace = true
 bytes.workspace = true
 byteorder.workspace = true
 crc32fast.workspace  = true
+futures.workspace = true
 futures-util.workspace = true
 hashbrown.workspace = true
 humantime.workspace = true
diff --git a/influxdb3_wal/src/object_store.rs b/influxdb3_wal/src/object_store.rs
index 2c878caa601..4647c1f678e 100644
--- a/influxdb3_wal/src/object_store.rs
+++ b/influxdb3_wal/src/object_store.rs
@@ -144,18 +144,22 @@ impl WalObjectStore {
             object_store: Arc<dyn ObjectStore>,
             path: Path,
         ) -> Result<WalContents, crate::Error> {
+            info!(?path, "loading path");
             let file_bytes = object_store.get(&path).await?.bytes().await?;
             Ok(verify_file_type_and_deserialize(file_bytes)?)
         }
 
-        let mut replay_tasks = Vec::new();
-        for path in paths {
-            let object_store = Arc::clone(&self.object_store);
-            replay_tasks.push(tokio::spawn(get_contents(object_store, path)));
-        }
+        let stream = futures::stream::iter(paths);
+        let mut replay_tasks = stream
+            .map(|path| {
+                let object_store = Arc::clone(&self.object_store);
+                async move { get_contents(object_store, path).await }
+            })
+            // limit concurrency when loading
+            .buffered(20);
 
-        for wal_contents in replay_tasks {
-            let wal_contents = wal_contents.await??;
+        while let Some(wal_contents) = replay_tasks.next().await {
+            let wal_contents = wal_contents?;
 
             // add this to the snapshot tracker, so we know what to clear out later if the replay
             // was a wal file that had a snapshot
diff --git a/influxdb3_write/src/write_buffer/queryable_buffer.rs b/influxdb3_write/src/write_buffer/queryable_buffer.rs
index 450bf2ed290..ede2f5149a8 100644
--- a/influxdb3_write/src/write_buffer/queryable_buffer.rs
+++ b/influxdb3_write/src/write_buffer/queryable_buffer.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ use schema::sort::SortKey;
 use std::any::Any;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::time::Duration;
+use tokio::sync::Semaphore;
 use tokio::sync::oneshot::{self, Receiver};
 use tokio::task::JoinSet;
 
@@ -245,6 +246,8 @@ impl QueryableBuffer {
 
             let persist_jobs_empty = persist_jobs.is_empty();
             let mut set = JoinSet::new();
+            // don't allow more than 5 persist jobs to run concurrently
+            let sempahore = Arc::new(Semaphore::new(5));
             for persist_job in persist_jobs {
                 let persister = Arc::clone(&persister);
                 let executor = Arc::clone(&executor);
@@ -252,8 +255,13 @@ impl QueryableBuffer {
                 let parquet_cache = parquet_cache.clone();
                 let buffer = Arc::clone(&buffer);
                 let persisted_files = Arc::clone(&persisted_files);
+                let semaphore = Arc::clone(&sempahore);
 
                 set.spawn(async move {
+                    let permit = semaphore
+                        .acquire_owned()
+                        .await
+                        .expect("to get permit to run sort/dedupe in parallel");
                     let path = persist_job.path.to_string();
                     let database_id = persist_job.database_id;
                     let table_id = persist_job.table_id;
@@ -308,11 +316,16 @@ impl QueryableBuffer {
 
                     persisted_snapshot
                         .lock()
-                        .add_parquet_file(database_id, table_id, parquet_file)
+                        .add_parquet_file(database_id, table_id, parquet_file);
+                    drop(permit);
                 });
             }
 
+            // set.join_all().await;
             set.join_all().await;
+            // while let Some(res) = set.join_next().await {
+            //     res.expect("sort/dedupe to succeed");
+            // }
 
             // persist the snapshot file - only if persist jobs are present
             // if persist_jobs is empty, then parquet file wouldn't have been