diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 38ad6dd7cba0..dea406a62e3d 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3260,6 +3260,8 @@ should_compact_retry(unsigned int order, enum compact_result compact_result,
 		     enum migrate_mode *migrate_mode,
 		     int compaction_retries)
 {
+	int max_retries = MAX_COMPACT_RETRIES;
+
 	if (!order)
 		return false;
 
@@ -3277,17 +3279,24 @@ should_compact_retry(unsigned int order, enum compact_result compact_result,
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * !costly allocations are really important and we have to make sure
-	 * the compaction wasn't deferred or didn't bail out early due to locks
-	 * contention before we go OOM. Still cap the reclaim retry loops with
-	 * progress to prevent from looping forever and potential trashing.
+	 * make sure the compaction wasn't deferred or didn't bail out early
+	 * due to locks contention before we declare that we should give up.
 	 */
-	if (order <= PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER) {
-		if (compaction_withdrawn(compact_result))
-			return true;
-		if (compaction_retries <= MAX_COMPACT_RETRIES)
-			return true;
-	}
+	if (compaction_withdrawn(compact_result))
+		return true;
+
+	/*
+	 * !costly requests are much more important than __GFP_REPEAT
+	 * costly ones because they are de facto nofail and invoke OOM
+	 * killer to move on while costly can fail and users are ready
+	 * to cope with that. 1/4 retries is rather arbitrary but we
+	 * would need much more detailed feedback from compaction to
+	 * make a better decision.
+	 */
+	if (order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)
+		max_retries /= 4;
+	if (compaction_retries <= max_retries)
+		return true;
 
 	return false;
 }
@@ -3449,18 +3458,17 @@ static inline bool is_thp_gfp_mask(gfp_t gfp_mask)
  * Checks whether it makes sense to retry the reclaim to make a forward progress
  * for the given allocation request.
  * The reclaim feedback represented by did_some_progress (any progress during
- * the last reclaim round), pages_reclaimed (cumulative number of reclaimed
- * pages) and no_progress_loops (number of reclaim rounds without any progress
- * in a row) is considered as well as the reclaimable pages on the applicable
- * zone list (with a backoff mechanism which is a function of no_progress_loops).
+ * the last reclaim round) and no_progress_loops (number of reclaim rounds without
+ * any progress in a row) is considered as well as the reclaimable pages on the
+ * applicable zone list (with a backoff mechanism which is a function of
+ * no_progress_loops).
  *
  * Returns true if a retry is viable or false to enter the oom path.
  */
 static inline bool
 should_reclaim_retry(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned order,
 		     struct alloc_context *ac, int alloc_flags,
-		     bool did_some_progress, unsigned long pages_reclaimed,
-		     int no_progress_loops)
+		     bool did_some_progress, int no_progress_loops)
 {
 	struct zone *zone;
 	struct zoneref *z;
@@ -3472,14 +3480,6 @@ should_reclaim_retry(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned order,
 	if (no_progress_loops > MAX_RECLAIM_RETRIES)
 		return false;
 
-	if (order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER) {
-		if (pages_reclaimed >= (1<<order))
-			return false;
-
-		if (did_some_progress)
-			return true;
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * Keep reclaiming pages while there is a chance this will lead somewhere.
 	 * If none of the target zones can satisfy our allocation request even
@@ -3550,7 +3550,6 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
 	bool can_direct_reclaim = gfp_mask & __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM;
 	struct page *page = NULL;
 	unsigned int alloc_flags;
-	unsigned long pages_reclaimed = 0;
 	unsigned long did_some_progress;
 	enum migrate_mode migration_mode = MIGRATE_ASYNC;
 	enum compact_result compact_result;
@@ -3686,16 +3685,18 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
 	if (order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER && !(gfp_mask & __GFP_REPEAT))
 		goto noretry;
 
-	if (did_some_progress) {
+	/*
+	 * Costly allocations might have made a progress but this doesn't mean
+	 * their order will become available due to high fragmentation so
+	 * always increment the no progress counter for them
+	 */
+	if (did_some_progress && order <= PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)
 		no_progress_loops = 0;
-		pages_reclaimed += did_some_progress;
-	} else {
+	else
 		no_progress_loops++;
-	}
 
 	if (should_reclaim_retry(gfp_mask, order, ac, alloc_flags,
-				 did_some_progress > 0, pages_reclaimed,
-				 no_progress_loops))
+				 did_some_progress > 0, no_progress_loops))
 		goto retry;
 
 	/*