diff --git a/packages/vulcan-core/lib/modules/default_resolvers.js b/packages/vulcan-core/lib/modules/default_resolvers.js
index dc4633dc83..433b6dbdc8 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-core/lib/modules/default_resolvers.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-core/lib/modules/default_resolvers.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { createError } from 'apollo-errors';
 
 const defaultOptions = {
   cacheMaxAge: 300,
+  maxCountQuery: 500
 };
 
 // note: for some reason changing resolverOptions to "options" throws error
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ export function getDefaultResolvers(options) {
 
         if (enableTotal) {
           // get total count of documents matching the selector
-          data.totalCount = await Connectors.count(collection, selector);
+          data.totalCount = await Connectors.count(collection, selector, {limit: resolverOptions.maxCountQuery});
         }
 
         // return results
diff --git a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/server/connectors/mongo.js b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/server/connectors/mongo.js
index 305b38fa0c..e55dffd31f 100644
--- a/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/server/connectors/mongo.js
+++ b/packages/vulcan-lib/lib/server/connectors/mongo.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ DatabaseConnectors.mongo = {
     return await collection.find(convertSelector(selector), options).fetch();
   },
   count: async (collection, selector = {}, options = {}) => {
-    return await collection.find(convertSelector(selector), options).count();
+    return await collection.find(convertSelector(selector), options).count(options);
   },
   create: async (collection, document, options = {}) => {
     return await collection.insert(document);