diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5b2170ccfac9..a071c07946ac 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS:
  * client: Use ec2 CPU perf data from AWS API [[GH-7830](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/7830)]
  * client: Added support for Azure fingerprinting. [[GH-8979](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/8979)]
  * client: Batch state store writes to reduce disk IO. [[GH-9093](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/9093)]
+ * client: Reduce rate of sending allocation updates when servers are slow. [[GH-9435](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/9435)]
  * client: Added support for fingerprinting the client node's Consul segment. [[GH-7214](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/7214)]
  * client: Added `NOMAD_JOB_ID` and `NOMAD_PARENT_JOB_ID` environment variables to those made available to jobs. [[GH-8967](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/issues/8967)]
  * client: Updated consul-template to v0.25.0 - config `function_blacklist` deprecated and replaced with `function_denylist` [[GH-8988](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad/pull/8988)]
diff --git a/client/client.go b/client/client.go
index 9a1e8e1d04e3..2674e02dd657 100644
--- a/client/client.go
+++ b/client/client.go
@@ -1904,7 +1904,6 @@ func (c *Client) AllocStateUpdated(alloc *structs.Allocation) {
 // allocSync is a long lived function that batches allocation updates to the
 // server.
 func (c *Client) allocSync() {
-	staggered := false
 	syncTicker := time.NewTicker(allocSyncIntv)
 	updates := make(map[string]*structs.Allocation)
 	for {
@@ -1933,19 +1932,24 @@ func (c *Client) allocSync() {
 			}
 
 			var resp structs.GenericResponse
-			if err := c.RPC("Node.UpdateAlloc", &args, &resp); err != nil {
+			err := c.RPC("Node.UpdateAlloc", &args, &resp)
+			if err != nil {
+				// Error updating allocations, do *not* clear
+				// updates and retry after backoff
 				c.logger.Error("error updating allocations", "error", err)
 				syncTicker.Stop()
 				syncTicker = time.NewTicker(c.retryIntv(allocSyncRetryIntv))
-				staggered = true
-			} else {
-				updates = make(map[string]*structs.Allocation)
-				if staggered {
-					syncTicker.Stop()
-					syncTicker = time.NewTicker(allocSyncIntv)
-					staggered = false
-				}
+				continue
 			}
+
+			// Successfully updated allocs, reset map and ticker.
+			// Always reset ticker to give loop time to receive
+			// alloc updates. If the RPC took the ticker interval
+			// we may call it in a tight loop before draining
+			// buffered updates.
+			updates = make(map[string]*structs.Allocation, len(updates))
+			syncTicker.Stop()
+			syncTicker = time.NewTicker(allocSyncIntv)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/nomad/node_endpoint.go b/nomad/node_endpoint.go
index f795d1bd2c3a..36a18a26f640 100644
--- a/nomad/node_endpoint.go
+++ b/nomad/node_endpoint.go
@@ -1144,8 +1144,13 @@ func (n *Node) UpdateAlloc(args *structs.AllocUpdateRequest, reply *structs.Gene
 			updates := n.updates
 			evals := n.evals
 			future := n.updateFuture
-			n.updates = nil
-			n.evals = nil
+
+			// Assume future update patterns will be similar to
+			// current batch and set cap appropriately to avoid
+			// slice resizing.
+			n.updates = make([]*structs.Allocation, 0, len(updates))
+			n.evals = make([]*structs.Evaluation, 0, len(evals))
+
 			n.updateFuture = nil
 			n.updateTimer = nil
 			n.updatesLock.Unlock()