diff --git a/gstlal-ugly/bin/gstlal_inspiral b/gstlal-ugly/bin/gstlal_inspiral
index 786076c75577ca475ae94dc246466add6d65521b..670830fb25aab865bc76fc56a2a25d5a7f3777e6 100755
--- a/gstlal-ugly/bin/gstlal_inspiral
+++ b/gstlal-ugly/bin/gstlal_inspiral
@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NPROC, (maxproc, maxproc))
 maxas = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS)[1]
 resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS, (maxas, maxas))
 
+# set the stack size per thread to be smaller
+maxstack = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_STACK)[1]
+resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_STACK, (1 * 1024**2, maxstack)) # 1MB per thread, not 10
+
 #
 # =============================================================================
 #