diff --git a/daemon/remote.c b/daemon/remote.c
index 8a8edb8eb..4e4647237 100644
--- a/daemon/remote.c
+++ b/daemon/remote.c
@@ -3233,6 +3233,7 @@ do_auth_zone_reload(RES* ssl, struct worker* worker, char* arg)
 	z->zone_expired = 0;
 	if(xfr) {
 		xfr->zone_expired = 0;
+		xfr->num_ixfrs = 0;
 		if(!xfr_find_soa(z, xfr)) {
 			if(z->data.count == 0) {
 				lock_rw_unlock(&z->lock);
diff --git a/doc/Changelog b/doc/Changelog
index f9396cb2b..a539d404d 100644
--- a/doc/Changelog
+++ b/doc/Changelog
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 	  Default is disabled. This hardens against unbounded
 	  transfers. Thanks to Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks,
 	  for the report.
+	- Fix perform a full transfer every number of incremental
+	  transfers, to stop increasing memory usage, for auth-zone
+	  and rpz zones. Thanks to Qifan Zhang, Palo Alto Networks,
+	  for the report.
 
 12 June 2026: Wouter
 	- Fix that for auth-zone and rpz zones the allow-notify
diff --git a/doc/unbound.conf.rst b/doc/unbound.conf.rst
index cfd78806e..b96f1722b 100644
--- a/doc/unbound.conf.rst
+++ b/doc/unbound.conf.rst
@@ -5130,6 +5130,10 @@ answer queries with that content.
     because it may not have that when retrieving that data, instead use a plain
     IP address to avoid a circular dependency on retrieving that IP address.
 
+    Every number of IXFR transfers, a full AXFR is performed.
+    This is to consolidate the rpz memory, that would otherwise grow.
+    The fixed value is after 5 IXFR transfers.
+
 
 @@UAHL@unbound.conf.rpz@master@@: *<IP address or host name>*
     Alternate syntax for :ref:`primary<unbound.conf.rpz.primary>`.
diff --git a/services/authzone.c b/services/authzone.c
index 1ab2ec1a4..3d31e4674 100644
--- a/services/authzone.c
+++ b/services/authzone.c
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@
 /** number of timeouts before we fallback from IXFR to AXFR,
  * because some versions of servers (eg. dnsmasq) drop IXFR packets. */
 #define NUM_TIMEOUTS_FALLBACK_IXFR 3
+/** number of IXFRs before an AXFR is performed, to consolidate RPZ memory. */
+#define NUM_IXFR_BEFORE_AXFR 5
 
 /** pick up nextprobe task to start waiting to perform transfer actions */
 static void xfr_set_timeout(struct auth_xfer* xfr, struct module_env* env,
@@ -2087,6 +2089,7 @@ auth_xfer_setup(struct auth_zone* z, struct auth_xfer* x)
 	if(!xfr_find_soa(z, x)) {
 		return 1;
 	}
+	x->is_rpz = (z->rpz!=NULL);
 	/* nothing for probe, nextprobe and transfer tasks */
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -4317,7 +4320,7 @@ xfr_create_ixfr_packet(struct auth_xfer* xfr, sldns_buffer* buf, uint16_t id,
 {
 	struct query_info qinfo;
 	uint32_t serial;
-	int have_zone;
+	int have_zone, get_full = 0;
 	have_zone = xfr->have_zone;
 	serial = xfr->serial;
 
@@ -4330,7 +4333,18 @@ xfr_create_ixfr_packet(struct auth_xfer* xfr, sldns_buffer* buf, uint16_t id,
 	xfr->task_transfer->on_ixfr_is_axfr = 0;
 	xfr->task_transfer->on_ixfr = 1;
 	qinfo.qtype = LDNS_RR_TYPE_IXFR;
-	if(!have_zone || xfr->task_transfer->ixfr_fail || !master->ixfr) {
+	if(xfr->num_ixfrs >= NUM_IXFR_BEFORE_AXFR && xfr->is_rpz) {
+		/* For the RPZ, an IXFR is going to grow regions, and a
+		 * full transfer, zonefile read, AXFR and HTTP clear the
+		 * region, but IXFR does not. That memory keeps growing,
+		 * and getting a full transfer with AXFR here resets that.
+		 * The rpz->client_set->region, rpz->ns_set->region and
+		 * rpz->respip_set->region need to be reset, they are for
+		 * rpz-client-ip, rpz-nsip and rpz-ip. */
+		get_full = 1;
+	}
+	if(!have_zone || xfr->task_transfer->ixfr_fail || !master->ixfr
+		|| get_full) {
 		qinfo.qtype = LDNS_RR_TYPE_AXFR;
 		xfr->task_transfer->ixfr_fail = 0;
 		xfr->task_transfer->on_ixfr = 0;
@@ -4955,6 +4969,8 @@ apply_ixfr(struct auth_xfer* xfr, struct auth_zone* z,
 	int delmode = 0;
 	int softfail = 0;
 
+	xfr->num_ixfrs++;
+
 	/* start RR iterator over chunklist of packets */
 	chunk_rrlist_start(xfr, &rr_chunk, &rr_num, &rr_pos);
 	while(!chunk_rrlist_end(rr_chunk, rr_num)) {
@@ -5100,6 +5116,7 @@ apply_axfr(struct auth_xfer* xfr, struct auth_zone* z,
 	xfr->have_zone = 0;
 	xfr->serial = 0;
 	xfr->soa_zone_acquired = 0;
+	xfr->num_ixfrs = 0;
 
 	/* insert all RRs in to the zone */
 	/* insert the SOA only once, skip the last one */
@@ -5202,6 +5219,7 @@ apply_http(struct auth_xfer* xfr, struct auth_zone* z,
 	xfr->have_zone = 0;
 	xfr->serial = 0;
 	xfr->soa_zone_acquired = 0;
+	xfr->num_ixfrs = 0;
 
 	chunk = xfr->task_transfer->chunks_first;
 	chunk_pos = 0;
@@ -5414,6 +5432,7 @@ xfr_process_chunk_list(struct auth_xfer* xfr, struct module_env* env,
 	}
 	z->soa_zone_acquired = *env->now;
 	xfr->soa_zone_acquired = *env->now;
+	xfr->is_rpz = (z->rpz!=NULL);
 
 	/* release xfr lock while verifying zonemd because it may have
 	 * to spawn lookups in the state machines */
diff --git a/services/authzone.h b/services/authzone.h
index 3862c6431..23a6b0f93 100644
--- a/services/authzone.h
+++ b/services/authzone.h
@@ -292,6 +292,10 @@ struct auth_xfer {
 	size_t max_transfer_size;
 	/** The maximum auth zone transfer time taken, in msec. */
 	int max_transfer_time;
+	/** the zone is an rpz zone */
+	int is_rpz;
+	/** the number of IXFRs since the last full transfer. */
+	int num_ixfrs;
 };
 
 /**