diff --git a/src/eventlog.js b/src/eventlog.js
index bec0462e3..ce939f641 100644
--- a/src/eventlog.js
+++ b/src/eventlog.js
@@ -105,10 +105,17 @@ function getAllPaged(action, search, page, perPage, callback) {
 function cleanup(callback) {
     callback = callback || NOOP_CALLBACK;
 
-     var d = new Date();
-     d.setDate(d.getDate() - 7); // 7 days ago
+    var d = new Date();
+    d.setDate(d.getDate() - 7); // 7 days ago
 
-    eventlogdb.delByCreationTime(d, function (error) {
+    // only cleanup high frequency events
+    var actions = [
+        exports.ACTION_USER_LOGIN,
+        exports.ACTION_BACKUP_START,
+        exports.ACTION_BACKUP_FINISH
+    ];
+
+    eventlogdb.delByCreationTime(d, actions, function (error) {
         if (error) return callback(new EventLogError(EventLogError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
         callback(null);
diff --git a/src/eventlogdb.js b/src/eventlogdb.js
index c368c9c5d..132cbc623 100644
--- a/src/eventlogdb.js
+++ b/src/eventlogdb.js
@@ -104,11 +104,15 @@ function clear(callback) {
     });
 }
 
-function delByCreationTime(creationTime, callback) {
+function delByCreationTime(creationTime, actions, callback) {
     assert(util.isDate(creationTime));
+    assert(Array.isArray(actions));
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    database.query('DELETE FROM eventlog WHERE creationTime < ?', [ creationTime ], function (error) {
+    var query = 'DELETE FROM eventlog WHERE creationTime < ? ';
+    if (actions.length) query += ' AND ( ' + actions.map(function () { return 'action != ?'; }).join(' AND ') + ' ) ';
+
+    database.query(query, [ creationTime ].concat(actions), function (error) {
         if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
         callback(error);
diff --git a/src/test/database-test.js b/src/test/database-test.js
index 1584e1fe8..0495a71da 100644
--- a/src/test/database-test.js
+++ b/src/test/database-test.js
@@ -1166,14 +1166,24 @@ describe('database', function () {
         });
 
         it('delByCreationTime succeeds', function (done) {
-            eventlogdb.delByCreationTime(new Date(), function (error) {
+            async.each([ 'persistent.event', 'transient.event', 'anothertransient.event', 'anotherpersistent.event' ], function (e, callback) {
+                eventlogdb.add('someid' + Math.random(), e, { ip: '1.2.3.4' }, { appId: 'thatapp' }, callback);
+            }, function (error) {
                 expect(error).to.be(null);
 
-                eventlogdb.getAllPaged(null, null, 1, 1, function (error, results) {
-                    expect(error).to.be(null);
-                    expect(results.length).to.be(0);
+                var actions = [ 'anotherpersistent.event', 'persistent.event' ];
 
-                    done();
+                eventlogdb.delByCreationTime(new Date(), actions, function (error) {
+                    expect(error).to.be(null);
+
+                    eventlogdb.getAllPaged(null, null, 1, 100, function (error, results) {
+                        expect(error).to.be(null);
+                        expect(results.length).to.be(2);
+                        expect(results[1].action).to.be.eql('persistent.event');
+                        expect(results[0].action).to.be.eql('anotherpersistent.event');
+
+                        done();
+                    });
                 });
             });
         });