diff --git a/src/cluster_legacy.c b/src/cluster_legacy.c
index ed2c4c3596..5fd28f733e 100644
--- a/src/cluster_legacy.c
+++ b/src/cluster_legacy.c
@@ -1661,6 +1661,7 @@ clusterNode *createClusterNode(char *nodename, int flags) {
     node->replicaof = NULL;
     node->last_in_ping_gossip = 0;
     node->ping_sent = node->pong_received = 0;
+    node->outbound_link_attempt_time = 0;
     node->data_received = 0;
     node->meet_sent = 0;
     node->fail_time = 0;
@@ -5362,10 +5363,12 @@ static int nodeExceedsHandshakeTimeout(clusterNode *node, mstime_t now) {
     return now - node->ctime > getHandshakeTimeout() ? 1 : 0;
 }
 
+#define NODE_CONNECTION_RETRIES_PER_TIMEOUT 10
+
 /* Check if the node is disconnected and re-establish the connection.
  * Also update a few stats while we are here, that can be used to make
  * better decisions in other part of the code. */
-static int clusterNodeCronHandleReconnect(clusterNode *node, mstime_t now) {
+static int clusterNodeCronHandleReconnect(clusterNode *node, mstime_t now, long long *cluster_conn_attempts) {
     /* Not interested in reconnecting the link with myself or nodes
      * for which we have no address. */
     if (node->flags & (CLUSTER_NODE_MYSELF | CLUSTER_NODE_NOADDR)) return 1;
@@ -5394,6 +5397,17 @@ static int clusterNodeCronHandleReconnect(clusterNode *node, mstime_t now) {
     }
 
     if (node->link == NULL) {
+        mstime_t reconnect_interval = server.cluster_node_timeout / 2;
+        /* Skip this outbound connection attempt when all these conditions are true:
+         *  1. No inbound link from the peer exists.
+         *  2. The back‑off window since the last try is still active
+         *  3. The node has already exceeded its retry budget for this cron cycle
+         */
+        if (!node->inbound_link && (now - node->outbound_link_attempt_time < reconnect_interval / NODE_CONNECTION_RETRIES_PER_TIMEOUT && *cluster_conn_attempts == 0)) {
+            return 1;
+        }
+        node->outbound_link_attempt_time = now;
+        (*cluster_conn_attempts)--;
         clusterLink *link = createClusterLink(node);
         link->conn = connCreate(connTypeOfCluster());
         connSetPrivateData(link->conn, link);
@@ -5439,6 +5453,22 @@ static void clusterNodeCronFreeLinkOnBufferLimitReached(clusterNode *node) {
     freeClusterLinkOnBufferLimitReached(node->inbound_link);
 }
 
+/* Compute the maximum number of connection attempts the clusterCron
+ * loop should schedule in a single cron.
+ *
+ * We want to guarantee that every node is contacted 10 times within node timeout. */
+static long long maxConnectionAttemptsPerCron(void) {
+    long long reconnect_interval = server.cluster_node_timeout / 2;
+    if (reconnect_interval <= 0)
+        return 0;
+    /* We run the cron loop every 100 ms.  To reach 100 % of the nodes
+     * within the timeout, we need: ceil(nodes * 100 / reconnect_interval) */
+    const long long min_nodes_for_coverage = dictSize(server.cluster->nodes) * CLUSTER_CRON_PERIOD_MS / reconnect_interval;
+    /* Increase the coverage budget so each node can be probed 10 times
+     * inside the timeout. */
+    return min_nodes_for_coverage * NODE_CONNECTION_RETRIES_PER_TIMEOUT;
+}
+
 /* This is executed 10 times every second */
 void clusterCron(void) {
     dictIterator *di;
@@ -5450,7 +5480,6 @@ void clusterCron(void) {
     mstime_t min_pong = 0, now = mstime();
     clusterNode *min_pong_node = NULL;
     static unsigned long long iteration = 0;
-
     iteration++; /* Number of times this function was called so far. */
 
     clusterUpdateMyselfHostname();
@@ -5459,6 +5488,7 @@ void clusterCron(void) {
     server.cluster->stats_pfail_nodes = 0;
     /* Run through some of the operations we want to do on each cluster node. */
     di = dictGetSafeIterator(server.cluster->nodes);
+    long long cluster_node_conn_attempts = maxConnectionAttemptsPerCron();
     while ((de = dictNext(di)) != NULL) {
         clusterNode *node = dictGetVal(de);
         /* We free the inbound or outboud link to the node if the link has an
@@ -5467,7 +5497,7 @@ void clusterCron(void) {
         /* The protocol is that function(s) below return non-zero if the node was
          * terminated.
          */
-        if (!server.debug_cluster_disable_reconnection && clusterNodeCronHandleReconnect(node, now)) continue;
+        if (!server.debug_cluster_disable_reconnection && clusterNodeCronHandleReconnect(node, now, &cluster_node_conn_attempts)) continue;
     }
     dictReleaseIterator(di);
 
diff --git a/src/cluster_legacy.h b/src/cluster_legacy.h
index aab7b46806..a687cf0e7e 100644
--- a/src/cluster_legacy.h
+++ b/src/cluster_legacy.h
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ struct _clusterNode {
     mstime_t meet_sent;                     /* Unix time we sent latest meet packet */
     mstime_t fail_time;                     /* Unix time when FAIL flag was set */
     mstime_t orphaned_time;                 /* Starting time of orphaned primary condition */
+    mstime_t outbound_link_attempt_time;    /* Unix time we last tried to establish an outgoing link */
     mstime_t inbound_link_freed_time;       /* Last time we freed the inbound link for this node.
                                                If it was never freed, it is the same as ctime */
     long long repl_offset;                  /* Last known repl offset for this node. */
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index f16ef03eb1..79d06a6eb9 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -1653,7 +1653,7 @@ long long serverCron(struct aeEventLoop *eventLoop, long long id, void *clientDa
 
     /* Run the Cluster cron. */
     if (server.cluster_enabled) {
-        run_with_period(100) clusterCron();
+        run_with_period(CLUSTER_CRON_PERIOD_MS) clusterCron();
     }
 
     /* Run the Sentinel timer if we are in sentinel mode. */
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index a19764ec28..db29c0fd51 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -665,6 +665,9 @@ typedef enum {
     (NOTIFY_GENERIC | NOTIFY_STRING | NOTIFY_LIST | NOTIFY_SET | NOTIFY_HASH | NOTIFY_ZSET | NOTIFY_EXPIRED | \
      NOTIFY_EVICTED | NOTIFY_STREAM | NOTIFY_MODULE) /* A flag */
 
+/* Period in milliseconds between successive clusterCron() executions */
+#define CLUSTER_CRON_PERIOD_MS 100
+
 /* Using the following macro you can run code inside serverCron() with the
  * specified period, specified in milliseconds.
  * The actual resolution depends on server.hz. */