diff --git a/lib/multi.c b/lib/multi.c
index b3b5716128..02d225759f 100644
--- a/lib/multi.c
+++ b/lib/multi.c
@@ -317,6 +317,9 @@ struct Curl_multi *Curl_multi_handle(int hashsize, /* socket hash */
   multi->closure_handle->state.conn_cache = multi->conn_cache;
 
   multi->max_pipeline_length = 5;
+
+  /* -1 means it not set by user, use the default value */
+  multi->maxconnects = -1;
   return (CURLM *) multi;
 
   error:
diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index c0aebef16e..4d7508eeed 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -3190,7 +3190,8 @@ ConnectionDone(struct SessionHandle *data, struct connectdata *conn)
 {
   /* data->multi->maxconnects can be negative, deal with it. */
   size_t maxconnects =
-    (data->multi->maxconnects < 0) ? 0 : data->multi->maxconnects;
+    (data->multi->maxconnects < 0) ? data->multi->num_easy * 4:
+    data->multi->maxconnects;
   struct connectdata *conn_candidate = NULL;
 
   /* Mark the current connection as 'unused' */