diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2f825f9bf2..5532ab6d3a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 * [CHANGE] Querier / ruler: Change `-querier.max-fetched-chunks-per-query` configuration to limit to maximum number of chunks that can be fetched in a single query. The number of chunks fetched by ingesters AND long-term storare combined should not exceed the value configured on `-querier.max-fetched-chunks-per-query`. #4260
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Add timeout for waiting on compactor to become ACTIVE in the ring. #4262
+* [ENHANCEMENT] Reduce memory used by streaming queries, particularly in ruler. #4341
 * [BUGFIX] HA Tracker: when cleaning up obsolete elected replicas from KV store, tracker didn't update number of cluster per user correctly. #4336
 
 ## 1.10.0-rc.0 / 2021-06-28
diff --git a/pkg/querier/batch/batch_test.go b/pkg/querier/batch/batch_test.go
index baacbcc719..9b9ffec16e 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/batch/batch_test.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/batch/batch_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ func BenchmarkNewChunkMergeIterator_CreateAndIterate(b *testing.B) {
 		{numChunks: 1000, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 3, enc: promchunk.DoubleDelta},
 		{numChunks: 1000, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 1, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
 		{numChunks: 1000, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 3, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
+		{numChunks: 100, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 1, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
+		{numChunks: 100, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 3, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
+		{numChunks: 1, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 1, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
+		{numChunks: 1, numSamplesPerChunk: 100, duplicationFactor: 3, enc: promchunk.PrometheusXorChunk},
 	}
 
 	for _, scenario := range scenarios {
diff --git a/pkg/querier/batch/chunk_test.go b/pkg/querier/batch/chunk_test.go
index 40a3feb4b2..e672811827 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/batch/chunk_test.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/batch/chunk_test.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ func mkChunk(t require.TestingT, from model.Time, points int, enc promchunk.Enco
 		require.Nil(t, npc)
 		ts = ts.Add(step)
 	}
+	ts = ts.Add(-step) // undo the add that we did just before exiting the loop
 	return chunk.NewChunk(userID, fp, metric, pc, from, ts)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/querier/batch/merge.go b/pkg/querier/batch/merge.go
index 88220bd727..7764b37467 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/batch/merge.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/batch/merge.go
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ func newMergeIterator(cs []GenericChunk) *mergeIterator {
 	c := &mergeIterator{
 		its:        its,
 		h:          make(iteratorHeap, 0, len(its)),
-		batches:    make(batchStream, 0, len(its)*2*promchunk.BatchSize),
-		batchesBuf: make(batchStream, len(its)*2*promchunk.BatchSize),
+		batches:    make(batchStream, 0, len(its)),
+		batchesBuf: make(batchStream, len(its)),
 	}
 
 	for _, iter := range c.its {
@@ -112,8 +112,7 @@ func (c *mergeIterator) buildNextBatch(size int) bool {
 	for len(c.h) > 0 && (len(c.batches) == 0 || c.nextBatchEndTime() >= c.h[0].AtTime()) {
 		c.nextBatchBuf[0] = c.h[0].Batch()
 		c.batchesBuf = mergeStreams(c.batches, c.nextBatchBuf[:], c.batchesBuf, size)
-		copy(c.batches[:len(c.batchesBuf)], c.batchesBuf)
-		c.batches = c.batches[:len(c.batchesBuf)]
+		c.batches = append(c.batches[:0], c.batchesBuf...)
 
 		if c.h[0].Next(size) {
 			heap.Fix(&c.h, 0)