diff --git a/bin/cassandra-cli b/bin/cassandra-cli
index 991fd971a8..c5fe27bdf3 100755
--- a/bin/cassandra-cli
+++ b/bin/cassandra-cli
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ if [ -z $CLASSPATH ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-$JAVA -ea -cp $CLASSPATH \
+$JAVA -ea -cp $CLASSPATH -Xmx256M \
         -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j-tools.properties \
         org.apache.cassandra.cli.CliMain "$@"