diff --git a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/config/CoreConfig.java b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/config/CoreConfig.java
index c83d08631..8d30376fa 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/config/CoreConfig.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/config/CoreConfig.java
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ public class CoreConfig {
 
     private int renderThreadCount = 1;
 
+    private int updateRegionAfterInactivity = 5;
+    private int updateRegionMaxInactivityWait = 60;
+
     private boolean metrics = true;
 
     private Path data = Path.of("bluemap");
@@ -57,6 +60,14 @@ public int resolveRenderThreadCount() {
         return Math.max(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() + renderThreadCount, 1);
     }
 
+    public int getUpdateRegionAfterInactivity() {
+        return updateRegionAfterInactivity;
+    }
+
+    public int getUpdateRegionMaxInactivityWait() {
+        return updateRegionMaxInactivityWait;
+    }
+
     public boolean isMetrics() {
         return metrics;
     }
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/MapUpdateService.java b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/MapUpdateService.java
index d398c17ba..635bc9d46 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/MapUpdateService.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/MapUpdateService.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 package de.bluecolored.bluemap.common.plugin;
 
 import com.flowpowered.math.vector.Vector2i;
+import de.bluecolored.bluemap.common.BlueMapConfiguration;
 import de.bluecolored.bluemap.common.rendermanager.RenderManager;
 import de.bluecolored.bluemap.common.rendermanager.WorldRegionRenderTask;
 import de.bluecolored.bluemap.core.logger.Logger;
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
 import de.bluecolored.bluemap.core.util.WatchService;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Timer;
@@ -42,19 +44,35 @@ public class MapUpdateService extends Thread {
     private final BmMap map;
     private final RenderManager renderManager;
     private final WatchService<Vector2i> watchService;
+    private final int inactivityWait;
+    private final int inactivityMaxWait;
 
     private volatile boolean closed;
 
     private Timer delayTimer;
 
-    private final Map<Vector2i, TimerTask> scheduledUpdates;
+    private final Map<Vector2i, RegionUpdateInfo> scheduledUpdates;
 
-    public MapUpdateService(RenderManager renderManager, BmMap map) throws IOException {
+    private static class RegionUpdateInfo {
+        TimerTask task;
+        Instant waitingSince;
+
+        RegionUpdateInfo(TimerTask task, Instant waitingSince) {
+            this.task = task;
+            this.waitingSince = waitingSince;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public MapUpdateService(BlueMapConfiguration configService, RenderManager renderManager, BmMap map) throws IOException {
         this.renderManager = renderManager;
         this.map = map;
         this.closed = false;
         this.scheduledUpdates = new HashMap<>();
         this.watchService = map.getWorld().createRegionWatchService();
+
+        var coreConfig = configService.getCoreConfig();
+        inactivityWait = coreConfig.getUpdateRegionAfterInactivity();
+        inactivityMaxWait = coreConfig.getUpdateRegionMaxInactivityWait();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -83,11 +101,17 @@ public void run() {
     private synchronized void updateRegion(Vector2i regionPos) {
         if (closed) return;
 
-        // we only want to start the render when there were no changes on a file for 5 seconds
-        TimerTask task = scheduledUpdates.remove(regionPos);
-        if (task != null) task.cancel();
+        // we only want to start the render when there were no changes on a file for inactivityWait seconds
+        RegionUpdateInfo previous = scheduledUpdates.get(regionPos);
+        if (previous != null) {
+            if (previous.waitingSince.plusSeconds(inactivityMaxWait).isBefore(Instant.now())) {
+                // exceeded max inactivity timeout, don't reschedule
+                return;
+            }
+            previous.task.cancel();
+        }
 
-        task = new TimerTask() {
+        TimerTask task = new TimerTask() {
             @Override
             public void run() {
                 synchronized (MapUpdateService.this) {
@@ -99,8 +123,13 @@ public void run() {
                 }
             }
         };
-        scheduledUpdates.put(regionPos, task);
-        delayTimer.schedule(task, 5000);
+
+        if (previous == null) {
+            scheduledUpdates.put(regionPos, new RegionUpdateInfo(task, Instant.now()));
+        } else {
+            previous.task = task;
+        }
+        delayTimer.schedule(task, inactivityWait * 1000L);
     }
 
     public synchronized void close() {
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/Plugin.java b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/Plugin.java
index 7ccd0fa30..cd4f85227 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/Plugin.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/common/plugin/Plugin.java
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ public synchronized void startWatchingMap(BmMap map) {
         stopWatchingMap(map);
 
         try {
-            MapUpdateService watcher = new MapUpdateService(renderManager, map);
+            MapUpdateService watcher = new MapUpdateService(blueMap.getConfig(), renderManager, map);
             watcher.start();
             mapUpdateServices.put(map.getId(), watcher);
         } catch (IOException ex) {
diff --git a/common/src/main/resources/de/bluecolored/bluemap/config/core.conf b/common/src/main/resources/de/bluecolored/bluemap/config/core.conf
index 7e6f8bf3f..e5edeb259 100644
--- a/common/src/main/resources/de/bluecolored/bluemap/config/core.conf
+++ b/common/src/main/resources/de/bluecolored/bluemap/config/core.conf
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ data: "${data}"
 # Default is 1
 render-thread-count: ${render-thread-count}
 
+# Wait for a region to be inactive for this many seconds before rerendering.
+update-region-after-inactivity: 5
+# Max time to wait for region inactivity (in seconds) before proceeding anyways.
+update-region-max-inactivity-wait: 60
+
 # Controls whether BlueMap should try to find and load mod-resources and datapacks from the server/world-directories.
 # Default is true
 scan-for-mod-resources: true
diff --git a/implementations/cli/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/cli/BlueMapCLI.java b/implementations/cli/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/cli/BlueMapCLI.java
index 451c63ce1..3413c3e35 100644
--- a/implementations/cli/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/cli/BlueMapCLI.java
+++ b/implementations/cli/src/main/java/de/bluecolored/bluemap/cli/BlueMapCLI.java
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ public void renderMaps(BlueMapService blueMap, boolean watch, TileUpdateStrategy
         if (watch) {
             for (BmMap map : maps.values()) {
                 try {
-                    MapUpdateService watcher = new MapUpdateService(renderManager, map);
+                    MapUpdateService watcher = new MapUpdateService(blueMap.getConfig(), renderManager, map);
                     watcher.start();
                     mapUpdateServices.add(watcher);
                 } catch (IOException ex) {