diff --git a/src/apptaskmanager.js b/src/apptaskmanager.js
index bb4fa9d3f..a4002111f 100644
--- a/src/apptaskmanager.js
+++ b/src/apptaskmanager.js
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function scheduleTask(appId, taskId, callback) {
 
     if (!fs.existsSync(path.dirname(logFile))) safe.fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(logFile)); // ensure directory
 
-    tasks.startTask(taskId, { logFile, timeout: 20 * 60 * 60 * 1000 /* 20 hours */ }, function (error, result) {
+    tasks.startTask(taskId, { logFile, timeout: 20 * 60 * 60 * 1000 /* 20 hours */, nice: 15 }, function (error, result) {
         callback(error, result);
 
         delete gActiveTasks[appId];
diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index 4ee32f681..c17f08408 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -1221,7 +1221,7 @@ function startBackupTask(auditSource, callback) {
 
         eventlog.add(eventlog.ACTION_BACKUP_START, auditSource, { taskId });
 
-        tasks.startTask(taskId, { timeout: 12 * 60 * 60 * 1000 /* 12 hours */ }, function (error, backupId) {
+        tasks.startTask(taskId, { timeout: 12 * 60 * 60 * 1000 /* 12 hours */, nice: 15 }, function (error, backupId) {
             locker.unlock(locker.OP_FULL_BACKUP);
 
             const errorMessage = error ? error.message : '';