diff --git a/envd-rs/src/http/snapshot.rs b/envd-rs/src/http/snapshot.rs
index 977b6bd..e507d8f 100644
--- a/envd-rs/src/http/snapshot.rs
+++ b/envd-rs/src/http/snapshot.rs
@@ -10,12 +10,22 @@ use crate::state::AppState;
 /// POST /snapshot/prepare — quiesce subsystems before Firecracker snapshot.
 ///
 /// In Rust there is no GC dance. We just:
-/// 1. Stop port subsystem
-/// 2. Close idle connections via conntracker
-/// 3. Set needs_restore flag
+/// 1. Drop page cache to shrink snapshot size
+/// 2. Stop port subsystem
+/// 3. Close idle connections via conntracker
+/// 4. Set needs_restore flag
 pub async fn post_snapshot_prepare(State(state): State<Arc<AppState>>) -> impl IntoResponse {
-    // Block memory reclaimer before anything else — prevents drop_caches
-    // from running mid-freeze which would corrupt kernel page table state.
+    // Drop page cache BEFORE blocking the reclaimer — avoids snapshotting
+    // gigabytes of stale cache that inflates the memory dump on disk.
+    // "1" = pagecache only (keep dentries/inodes for faster resume).
+    if let Err(e) = std::fs::write("/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches", "1") {
+        tracing::warn!(error = %e, "snapshot/prepare: drop_caches failed");
+    } else {
+        tracing::info!("snapshot/prepare: page cache dropped");
+    }
+
+    // Block memory reclaimer — prevents drop_caches from running mid-freeze
+    // which would corrupt kernel page table state.
     state.snapshot_in_progress.store(true, Ordering::Release);
 
     if let Some(ref ps) = state.port_subsystem {