diff --git a/sqlitecluster/SQLite.cpp b/sqlitecluster/SQLite.cpp
index 04864b685..0335bd501 100644
--- a/sqlitecluster/SQLite.cpp
+++ b/sqlitecluster/SQLite.cpp
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ void SQLite::commonConstructorInitialization(bool hctree) {
 
     // I tested and found that we could set about 10,000,000 and the number of steps to run and get a callback once a
     // second. This is set to be a bit more granular than that, which is probably adequate.
-    sqlite3_progress_handler(_db, 1'000'000, _progressHandlerCallback, this);
+    sqlite3_progress_handler(_db, 100, _progressHandlerCallback, this);
 
     // Setting a wal hook prevents auto-checkpointing.
     sqlite3_wal_hook(_db, _walHookCallback, this);
@@ -874,20 +874,19 @@ string SQLite::getCommittedHash() {
     return _sharedData.lastCommittedHash.load();
 }
 
-bool SQLite::getCommits(uint64_t fromIndex, uint64_t toIndex, SQResult& result) {
+int SQLite::getCommits(uint64_t fromIndex, uint64_t toIndex, SQResult& result, uint64_t timeoutLimitUS) {
     // Look up all the queries within that range
     SASSERTWARN(SWITHIN(1, fromIndex, toIndex));
     string query = _getJournalQuery({"SELECT id, hash, query FROM", "WHERE id >= " + SQ(fromIndex) +
                                     (toIndex ? " AND id <= " + SQ(toIndex) : "")});
     SDEBUG("Getting commits #" << fromIndex << "-" << toIndex);
     query = "SELECT hash, query FROM (" + query  + ") ORDER BY id";
-
-    // Set timeout to 10 seconds.
-    _timeoutLimit = STimeNow() + 10'000'000;
+    if (timeoutLimitUS) {
+        _timeoutLimit = STimeNow() + timeoutLimitUS;
+    }
     int queryResult = SQuery(_db, "getting commits", query, result);
     _timeoutLimit = 0;
-
-    return !queryResult;
+    return queryResult;
 }
 
 int64_t SQLite::getLastInsertRowID() {
diff --git a/sqlitecluster/SQLite.h b/sqlitecluster/SQLite.h
index ae9e7b711..1dc6d1ad6 100644
--- a/sqlitecluster/SQLite.h
+++ b/sqlitecluster/SQLite.h
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ class SQLite {
     static bool getCommit(sqlite3* db, const vector<string> journalNames, uint64_t index, string& query, string& hash);
 
     // Looks up a range of commits.
-    bool getCommits(uint64_t fromIndex, uint64_t toIndex, SQResult& result);
+    int getCommits(uint64_t fromIndex, uint64_t toIndex, SQResult& result, uint64_t timeoutLimitUS = 0);
 
     // Set a time limit for this transaction, in US from the current time.
     void setTimeout(uint64_t timeLimitUS);
diff --git a/sqlitecluster/SQLiteNode.cpp b/sqlitecluster/SQLiteNode.cpp
index d3c6ca9fd..32f86efda 100644
--- a/sqlitecluster/SQLiteNode.cpp
+++ b/sqlitecluster/SQLiteNode.cpp
@@ -2132,13 +2132,24 @@ void SQLiteNode::_queueSynchronize(const SQLiteNode* const node, SQLitePeer* pee
         // Figure out how much to send it
         uint64_t fromIndex = peerCommitCount + 1;
         uint64_t toIndex = targetCommit;
+        uint64_t timeoutLimitUS = 0;
         if (sendAll) {
             SINFO("Sending all commits with synchronize message, from " << fromIndex << " to " << toIndex); 
+
+            // We set this for all commits because this only gets all commits in response to SUBSCRIBE, which is done synchronously, and blocks the commit thread.
+            // For asynchronous queries, there's nothing being blocked, so it doesn't much matter how long these take.
+            // This is really not the correct encapsulation for this, but we can improve that later.
+            timeoutLimitUS = 100;
         } else {
             toIndex = min(toIndex, fromIndex + 100); // 100 transactions at a time
         }
-        if (!db.getCommits(fromIndex, toIndex, result)) {
-            STHROW("error getting commits");
+        int resultCode = db.getCommits(fromIndex, toIndex, result, timeoutLimitUS);
+        if (resultCode) {
+            if (resultCode == SQLITE_INTERRUPT) {
+                SWARN("Timed out while running synchronization query.");
+            } else {
+                STHROW("error getting commits");
+            }
         }
         if ((uint64_t)result.size() != toIndex - fromIndex + 1) {
             STHROW("mismatched commit count");