diff --git a/apps/emqx_ds_builtin_raft/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer.erl b/apps/emqx_ds_builtin_raft/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer.erl
index af0aeec7d..a2476ba66 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_ds_builtin_raft/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_ds_builtin_raft/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer.erl
@@ -581,8 +581,18 @@ list_nodes() ->
 -define(RA_TIMEOUT, 60 * 1000).
 
 %% How often to release Raft logs?
-%% Each N log entries mark everything up to the last N entries "releasable".
--define(RA_RELEASE_LOG_FREQ, 1000).
+%% Each time we written approximately this number of bytes.
+%% Close to the RocksDB's default of 64 MiB.
+-define(RA_RELEASE_LOG_APPROX_SIZE, 50_000_000).
+%% ...Or at least each N log entries.
+-define(RA_RELEASE_LOG_MIN_FREQ, 64_000).
+
+-ifdef(TEST).
+-undef(RA_RELEASE_LOG_APPROX_SIZE).
+-undef(RA_RELEASE_LOG_MIN_FREQ).
+-define(RA_RELEASE_LOG_APPROX_SIZE, 50_000).
+-define(RA_RELEASE_LOG_MIN_FREQ, 1_000).
+-endif.
 
 -define(SAFE_ERPC(EXPR),
     try
@@ -752,6 +762,7 @@ ra_drop_shard(DB, Shard) ->
 %%
 
 -define(pd_ra_idx_need_release, '$emqx_ds_raft_idx_need_release').
+-define(pd_ra_bytes_need_release, '$emqx_ds_raft_bytes_need_release').
 
 -spec init(_Args :: map()) -> ra_state().
 init(#{db := DB, shard := Shard}) ->
@@ -768,11 +779,11 @@ apply(
     #{db_shard := DBShard = {DB, Shard}, latest := Latest0} = State0
 ) ->
     ?tp(ds_ra_apply_batch, #{db => DB, shard => Shard, batch => MessagesIn, latest => Latest0}),
-    {Latest, Messages} = assign_timestamps(Latest0, MessagesIn),
+    {Stats, Latest, Messages} = assign_timestamps(Latest0, MessagesIn),
     Result = emqx_ds_storage_layer:store_batch(DBShard, Messages, #{durable => false}),
     State = State0#{latest := Latest},
     set_ts(DBShard, Latest),
-    Effects = try_release_log(RaftMeta, State),
+    Effects = try_release_log(Stats, RaftMeta, State),
     Effects =/= [] andalso ?tp(ds_ra_effects, #{effects => Effects, meta => RaftMeta}),
     {State, Result, Effects};
 apply(
@@ -847,22 +858,27 @@ apply(
     Effects = handle_custom_event(DBShard, Latest, CustomEvent),
     {State#{latest => Latest}, ok, Effects}.
 
-try_release_log(RaftMeta = #{index := CurrentIdx}, State) ->
+try_release_log({_N, BatchSize}, RaftMeta = #{index := CurrentIdx}, State) ->
     %% NOTE
-    %% Release everything up to the last log entry, but only if there were more than
-    %% `?RA_RELEASE_LOG_FREQ` new entries since the last release.
-    case get_log_need_release(RaftMeta) of
-        undefined ->
-            [];
-        PrevIdx when ?RA_RELEASE_LOG_FREQ > CurrentIdx - PrevIdx ->
-            [];
-        _PrevIdx ->
-            %% TODO
-            %% Number of log entries is not the best metric. Because cursor release
-            %% means storage flush (see `emqx_ds_replication_snapshot:write/3`), we
-            %% should do that not too often (so the storage is happy with L0 SST size)
-            %% and not too rarely (so we don't accumulate huge Raft logs).
-            release_log(RaftMeta, State)
+    %% Because cursor release means storage flush (see
+    %% `emqx_ds_replication_snapshot:write/3`), we should do that not too often
+    %% (so the storage is happy with L0 SST sizes) and not too rarely (so we don't
+    %% accumulate huge Raft logs).
+    case inc_bytes_need_release(BatchSize) of
+        AccSize when AccSize > ?RA_RELEASE_LOG_APPROX_SIZE ->
+            release_log(RaftMeta, State);
+        _NotYet ->
+            case get_log_need_release(RaftMeta) of
+                undefined ->
+                    [];
+                PrevIdx when CurrentIdx - PrevIdx > ?RA_RELEASE_LOG_MIN_FREQ ->
+                    %% Release everything up to the last log entry, but only if there were
+                    %% more than %% `?RA_RELEASE_LOG_MIN_FREQ` new entries since the last
+                    %% release.
+                    release_log(RaftMeta, State);
+                _ ->
+                    []
+            end
     end.
 
 release_log(RaftMeta = #{index := CurrentIdx}, State) ->
@@ -871,6 +887,7 @@ release_log(RaftMeta = #{index := CurrentIdx}, State) ->
     %% following `CurrentIdx` should not contribute to `State` (that will be recovered
     %% from a snapshot).
     update_log_need_release(RaftMeta),
+    reset_bytes_need_release(),
     {release_cursor, CurrentIdx, State}.
 
 get_log_need_release(RaftMeta) ->
@@ -885,6 +902,17 @@ get_log_need_release(RaftMeta) ->
 update_log_need_release(#{index := CurrentIdx}) ->
     erlang:put(?pd_ra_idx_need_release, CurrentIdx).
 
+get_bytes_need_release() ->
+    emqx_maybe:define(erlang:get(?pd_ra_bytes_need_release), 0).
+
+inc_bytes_need_release(Size) ->
+    Acc = get_bytes_need_release() + Size,
+    erlang:put(?pd_ra_bytes_need_release, Acc),
+    Acc.
+
+reset_bytes_need_release() ->
+    erlang:put(?pd_ra_bytes_need_release, 0).
+
 -spec tick(integer(), ra_state()) -> ra_machine:effects().
 tick(TimeMs, #{db_shard := DBShard = {DB, Shard}, latest := Latest}) ->
     %% Leader = emqx_ds_replication_layer_shard:lookup_leader(DB, Shard),
@@ -893,19 +921,20 @@ tick(TimeMs, #{db_shard := DBShard = {DB, Shard}, latest := Latest}) ->
     handle_custom_event(DBShard, Timestamp, tick).
 
 assign_timestamps(Latest, Messages) ->
-    assign_timestamps(Latest, Messages, []).
+    assign_timestamps(Latest, Messages, [], 0, 0).
 
-assign_timestamps(Latest, [MessageIn | Rest], Acc) ->
-    case emqx_message:timestamp(MessageIn, microsecond) of
-        TimestampUs when TimestampUs > Latest ->
-            Message = assign_timestamp(TimestampUs, MessageIn),
-            assign_timestamps(TimestampUs, Rest, [Message | Acc]);
+assign_timestamps(Latest0, [Message0 | Rest], Acc, N, Sz) ->
+    case emqx_message:timestamp(Message0, microsecond) of
+        TimestampUs when TimestampUs > Latest0 ->
+            Latest = TimestampUs,
+            Message = assign_timestamp(TimestampUs, Message0);
         _Earlier ->
-            Message = assign_timestamp(Latest + 1, MessageIn),
-            assign_timestamps(Latest + 1, Rest, [Message | Acc])
-    end;
-assign_timestamps(Latest, [], Acc) ->
-    {Latest, lists:reverse(Acc)}.
+            Latest = Latest0 + 1,
+            Message = assign_timestamp(Latest, Message0)
+    end,
+    assign_timestamps(Latest, Rest, [Message | Acc], N + 1, Sz + approx_message_size(Message0));
+assign_timestamps(Latest, [], Acc, N, Size) ->
+    {{N, Size}, Latest, lists:reverse(Acc)}.
 
 assign_timestamp(TimestampUs, Message) ->
     {TimestampUs, Message}.
@@ -938,3 +967,14 @@ handle_custom_event(DBShard, Latest, Event) ->
 
 set_ts({DB, Shard}, TS) ->
     emqx_ds_builtin_raft_sup:set_gvar(DB, ?gv_timestamp(Shard), TS).
+
+%%
+
+approx_message_size(#message{from = ClientID, topic = Topic, payload = Payload}) ->
+    MinOverhead = 40,
+    MinOverhead + clientid_size(ClientID) + byte_size(Topic) + byte_size(Payload).
+
+clientid_size(ClientID) when is_binary(ClientID) ->
+    byte_size(ClientID);
+clientid_size(ClientID) ->
+    erlang:external_size(ClientID).