diff --git a/dual/dual.go b/dual/dual.go
index 0b4317999..efb5353e8 100644
--- a/dual/dual.go
+++ b/dual/dual.go
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ var (
 	_ routing.ValueStore     = (*DHT)(nil)
 )
 
+var (
+	maxPrefixCountPerCpl = 2
+	maxPrefixCount       = 3
+)
+
 // New creates a new DualDHT instance. Options provided are forwarded on to the two concrete
 // IpfsDHT internal constructions, modulo additional options used by the Dual DHT to enforce
 // the LAN-vs-WAN distinction.
@@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ func New(ctx context.Context, h host.Host, options ...dht.Option) (*DHT, error)
 	wanOpts := append(options,
 		dht.QueryFilter(dht.PublicQueryFilter),
 		dht.RoutingTableFilter(dht.PublicRoutingTableFilter),
-		dht.RoutingTablePeerDiversityFilter(dht.NewRTPeerDiversityFilter(h, 2, 3)),
+		dht.RoutingTablePeerDiversityFilter(dht.NewRTPeerDiversityFilter(h, maxPrefixCountPerCpl, maxPrefixCount)),
 	)
 	wan, err := dht.New(ctx, h, wanOpts...)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/qpeerset/qpeerset.go b/qpeerset/qpeerset.go
index 971b5489d..b940a0430 100644
--- a/qpeerset/qpeerset.go
+++ b/qpeerset/qpeerset.go
@@ -121,53 +121,39 @@ func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetReferrer(p peer.ID) peer.ID {
 	return qp.all[qp.find(p)].referredBy
 }
 
-// NumWaiting returns the number of peers in state PeerWaiting.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) NumWaiting() int {
-	return len(qp.GetWaitingPeers())
-}
-
-// GetWaitingPeers returns a slice of all peers in state PeerWaiting, in an undefined order.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetWaitingPeers() (result []peer.ID) {
-	for _, p := range qp.all {
-		if p.state == PeerWaiting {
-			result = append(result, p.id)
-		}
+// GetClosestNInStates returns the closest to the key peers, which are in one of the given states.
+// It returns n peers or less, if fewer peers meet the condition.
+// The returned peers are sorted in ascending order by their distance to the key.
+func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetClosestNInStates(n int, states ...PeerState) (result []peer.ID) {
+	qp.sort()
+	m := make(map[PeerState]struct{}, len(states))
+	for i := range states {
+		m[states[i]] = struct{}{}
 	}
-	return
-}
 
-// GetClosestNotUnreachable returns the closest to the key peers, which are not in state PeerUnreachable.
-// It returns count peers or less, if fewer peers meet the condition.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetClosestNotUnreachable(count int) (result []peer.ID) {
-	qp.sort()
 	for _, p := range qp.all {
-		if p.state != PeerUnreachable {
+		if _, ok := m[p.state]; ok {
 			result = append(result, p.id)
 		}
 	}
-	if len(result) >= count {
-		return result[:count]
+	if len(result) >= n {
+		return result[:n]
 	}
 	return result
 }
 
-// NumHeard returns the number of peers in state PeerHeard.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) NumHeard() int {
-	return len(qp.GetHeardPeers())
+// GetClosestInStates returns the peers, which are in one of the given states.
+// The returned peers are sorted in ascending order by their distance to the key.
+func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetClosestInStates(states ...PeerState) (result []peer.ID) {
+	return qp.GetClosestNInStates(len(qp.all), states...)
 }
 
-// GetHeardPeers returns a slice of all peers in state PeerHeard, in an undefined order.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetHeardPeers() (result []peer.ID) {
-	for _, p := range qp.all {
-		if p.state == PeerHeard {
-			result = append(result, p.id)
-		}
-	}
-	return
+// NumHeard returns the number of peers in state PeerHeard.
+func (qp *QueryPeerset) NumHeard() int {
+	return len(qp.GetClosestInStates(PeerHeard))
 }
 
-// GetSortedHeard returns a slice of all peers in state PeerHeard, ordered by ascending distance to the target key.
-func (qp *QueryPeerset) GetSortedHeard() (result []peer.ID) {
-	qp.sort()
-	return qp.GetHeardPeers()
+// NumWaiting returns the number of peers in state PeerWaiting.
+func (qp *QueryPeerset) NumWaiting() int {
+	return len(qp.GetClosestInStates(PeerWaiting))
 }
diff --git a/qpeerset/qpeerset_test.go b/qpeerset/qpeerset_test.go
index 4d0f7db0a..bd40413af 100644
--- a/qpeerset/qpeerset_test.go
+++ b/qpeerset/qpeerset_test.go
@@ -56,31 +56,31 @@ func TestQPeerSet(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// add peer4
 	require.True(t, qp.TryAdd(peer4, oracle))
-	cl := qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(2)
+	cl := qp.GetClosestNInStates(2, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer4, peer2}, cl)
-	cl = qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(3)
+	cl = qp.GetClosestNInStates(3, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer4, peer2}, cl)
-	cl = qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(1)
+	cl = qp.GetClosestNInStates(1, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer4}, cl)
 
 	// mark as unreachable & try to get it
 	qp.SetState(peer4, PeerUnreachable)
-	cl = qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(1)
+	cl = qp.GetClosestNInStates(1, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer2}, cl)
 
 	// add peer1
 	require.True(t, qp.TryAdd(peer1, oracle))
-	cl = qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(1)
+	cl = qp.GetClosestNInStates(1, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer1}, cl)
-	cl = qp.GetClosestNotUnreachable(2)
+	cl = qp.GetClosestNInStates(2, PeerHeard, PeerWaiting, PeerQueried)
 	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer1, peer2}, cl)
 
 	// mark as waiting and assert
 	qp.SetState(peer2, PeerWaiting)
-	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer2}, qp.GetWaitingPeers())
+	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer2}, qp.GetClosestInStates(PeerWaiting))
 
-	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer1}, qp.GetHeardPeers())
+	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer1}, qp.GetClosestInStates(PeerHeard))
 	require.True(t, qp.TryAdd(peer3, oracle))
-	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer3, peer1}, qp.GetSortedHeard())
+	require.Equal(t, []peer.ID{peer3, peer1}, qp.GetClosestInStates(PeerHeard))
 	require.Equal(t, 2, qp.NumHeard())
 }
diff --git a/query.go b/query.go
index 88a1b63e6..47d87df05 100644
--- a/query.go
+++ b/query.go
@@ -8,13 +8,12 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/google/uuid"
-
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/network"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peer"
 	pstore "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peerstore"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/routing"
 
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kad-dht/qpeerset"
 	kb "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kbucket"
 )
@@ -223,7 +222,7 @@ func (q *query) constructLookupResult(target kb.ID) *lookupWithFollowupResult {
 	// extract the top K not unreachable peers
 	var peers []peer.ID
 	peerState := make(map[peer.ID]qpeerset.PeerState)
-	qp := q.queryPeers.GetClosestNotUnreachable(q.dht.bucketSize)
+	qp := q.queryPeers.GetClosestNInStates(q.dht.bucketSize, qpeerset.PeerHeard, qpeerset.PeerWaiting, qpeerset.PeerQueried)
 	for _, p := range qp {
 		state := q.queryPeers.GetState(p)
 		peerState[p] = state
@@ -251,10 +250,11 @@ func (q *query) constructLookupResult(target kb.ID) *lookupWithFollowupResult {
 }
 
 type queryUpdate struct {
-	cause         peer.ID
-	heard         []peer.ID
-	queried       []peer.ID
-	unreachable   []peer.ID
+	cause       peer.ID
+	queried     []peer.ID
+	heard       []peer.ID
+	unreachable []peer.ID
+
 	queryDuration time.Duration
 }
 
@@ -279,8 +279,14 @@ func (q *query) run() {
 			q.terminate(pathCtx, cancelPath, LookupCancelled)
 		}
 
+		// calculate the maximum number of queries we could be spawning.
+		// Note: NumWaiting will be updated in spawnQuery
+		maxNumQueriesToSpawn := alpha - q.queryPeers.NumWaiting()
+
 		// termination is triggered on end-of-lookup conditions or starvation of unused peers
-		if ready, reason := q.isReadyToTerminate(); ready {
+		// it also returns the peers we should query next for a maximum of `maxNumQueriesToSpawn` peers.
+		ready, reason, qPeers := q.isReadyToTerminate(pathCtx, maxNumQueriesToSpawn)
+		if ready {
 			q.terminate(pathCtx, cancelPath, reason)
 		}
 
@@ -288,29 +294,15 @@ func (q *query) run() {
 			return
 		}
 
-		// if all "threads" are busy, wait until someone finishes
-		if q.queryPeers.NumWaiting() >= alpha {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		// spawn new queries, up to the parallelism allowance
-		// calculate the maximum number of queries we could be spawning.
-		// Note: NumWaiting will be updated in spawnQuery
-		maxNumQueriesToSpawn := alpha - q.queryPeers.NumWaiting()
 		// try spawning the queries, if there are no available peers to query then we won't spawn them
-		for j := 0; j < maxNumQueriesToSpawn; j++ {
-			q.spawnQuery(pathCtx, cause, ch)
+		for _, p := range qPeers {
+			q.spawnQuery(pathCtx, cause, p, ch)
 		}
 	}
 }
 
 // spawnQuery starts one query, if an available heard peer is found
-func (q *query) spawnQuery(ctx context.Context, cause peer.ID, ch chan<- *queryUpdate) {
-	peers := q.queryPeers.GetSortedHeard()
-	if len(peers) == 0 {
-		return
-	}
-
+func (q *query) spawnQuery(ctx context.Context, cause peer.ID, queryPeer peer.ID, ch chan<- *queryUpdate) {
 	PublishLookupEvent(ctx,
 		NewLookupEvent(
 			q.dht.self,
@@ -318,39 +310,52 @@ func (q *query) spawnQuery(ctx context.Context, cause peer.ID, ch chan<- *queryU
 			q.key,
 			NewLookupUpdateEvent(
 				cause,
-				q.queryPeers.GetReferrer(peers[0]),
-				nil,                 // heard
-				[]peer.ID{peers[0]}, // waiting
-				nil,                 // queried
-				nil,                 // unreachable
+				q.queryPeers.GetReferrer(queryPeer),
+				nil,                  // heard
+				[]peer.ID{queryPeer}, // waiting
+				nil,                  // queried
+				nil,                  // unreachable
 			),
 			nil,
 			nil,
 		),
 	)
-	q.queryPeers.SetState(peers[0], qpeerset.PeerWaiting)
+	q.queryPeers.SetState(queryPeer, qpeerset.PeerWaiting)
 	q.waitGroup.Add(1)
-	go q.queryPeer(ctx, ch, peers[0])
+	go q.queryPeer(ctx, ch, queryPeer)
 }
 
-func (q *query) isReadyToTerminate() (bool, LookupTerminationReason) {
+func (q *query) isReadyToTerminate(ctx context.Context, nPeersToQuery int) (bool, LookupTerminationReason, []peer.ID) {
 	// give the application logic a chance to terminate
 	if q.stopFn() {
-		return true, LookupStopped
+		return true, LookupStopped, nil
 	}
 	if q.isStarvationTermination() {
-		return true, LookupStarvation
+		return true, LookupStarvation, nil
 	}
 	if q.isLookupTermination() {
-		return true, LookupCompleted
+		return true, LookupCompleted, nil
 	}
-	return false, -1
+
+	// The peers we query next should be ones that we have only Heard about.
+	var peersToQuery []peer.ID
+	peers := q.queryPeers.GetClosestInStates(qpeerset.PeerHeard)
+	count := 0
+	for _, p := range peers {
+		peersToQuery = append(peersToQuery, p)
+		count++
+		if count == nPeersToQuery {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false, -1, peersToQuery
 }
 
 // From the set of all nodes that are not unreachable,
 // if the closest beta nodes are all queried, the lookup can terminate.
 func (q *query) isLookupTermination() bool {
-	peers := q.queryPeers.GetClosestNotUnreachable(q.dht.beta)
+	peers := q.queryPeers.GetClosestNInStates(q.dht.beta, qpeerset.PeerHeard, qpeerset.PeerWaiting, qpeerset.PeerQueried)
 	for _, p := range peers {
 		if q.queryPeers.GetState(p) != qpeerset.PeerQueried {
 			return false
@@ -478,6 +483,7 @@ func (q *query) updateState(ctx context.Context, up *queryUpdate) {
 		if p == q.dht.self { // don't add self.
 			continue
 		}
+
 		if st := q.queryPeers.GetState(p); st == qpeerset.PeerWaiting {
 			q.queryPeers.SetState(p, qpeerset.PeerUnreachable)
 		} else {
diff --git a/routing.go b/routing.go
index b57e0ae84..f31e9a5b2 100644
--- a/routing.go
+++ b/routing.go
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ func (dht *IpfsDHT) FindPeer(ctx context.Context, id peer.ID) (_ peer.AddrInfo,
 			// Note: we consider PeerUnreachable to be a valid state because the peer may not support the DHT protocol
 			// and therefore the peer would fail the query. The fact that a peer that is returned can be a non-DHT
 			// server peer and is not identified as such is a bug.
-			dialedPeerDuringQuery = lookupRes.state[i] != qpeerset.PeerHeard
+			dialedPeerDuringQuery = (lookupRes.state[i] == qpeerset.PeerQueried || lookupRes.state[i] == qpeerset.PeerUnreachable || lookupRes.state[i] == qpeerset.PeerWaiting)
 			break
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/rt_diversity_filter.go b/rt_diversity_filter.go
index 35d9021ef..06c3116e6 100644
--- a/rt_diversity_filter.go
+++ b/rt_diversity_filter.go
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 package dht
 
 import (
+	"sync"
+
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/host"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peer"
+
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kbucket/peerdiversity"
+
 	ma "github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr"
-	"sync"
 )
 
 var _ peerdiversity.PeerIPGroupFilter = (*rtPeerIPGroupFilter)(nil)
diff --git a/rt_diversity_filter_test.go b/rt_diversity_filter_test.go
index 1843e3604..d439e863a 100644
--- a/rt_diversity_filter_test.go
+++ b/rt_diversity_filter_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	kb "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kbucket"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kbucket/peerdiversity"
 	swarmt "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-swarm/testing"
 	bhost "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/p2p/host/basic"
@@ -51,10 +52,64 @@ func TestRTPeerDiversityFilter(t *testing.T) {
 	require.False(t, r.Allow(g2))
 }
 
-func TestRoutingTableEndToEnd(t *testing.T) {
+func TestRoutingTableEndToEndMaxPerCpl(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	h := bhost.New(swarmt.GenSwarm(t, ctx, swarmt.OptDisableReuseport))
-	r := NewRTPeerDiversityFilter(h, 2, 3)
+	r := NewRTPeerDiversityFilter(h, 1, 2)
+
+	d, err := New(
+		ctx,
+		h,
+		testPrefix,
+		NamespacedValidator("v", blankValidator{}),
+		Mode(ModeServer),
+		DisableAutoRefresh(),
+		RoutingTablePeerDiversityFilter(r),
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	var d2 *IpfsDHT
+	var d3 *IpfsDHT
+
+	for {
+		d2 = setupDHT(ctx, t, false)
+		if kb.CommonPrefixLen(d.selfKey, kb.ConvertPeerID(d2.self)) == 1 {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	for {
+		d3 = setupDHT(ctx, t, false)
+		if kb.CommonPrefixLen(d.selfKey, kb.ConvertPeerID(d3.self)) == 1 {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	// d2 will be allowed in the Routing table but
+	// d3 will not be allowed.
+	connectNoSync(t, ctx, d, d2)
+	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
+		return d.routingTable.Find(d2.self) != ""
+	}, 1*time.Second, 100*time.Millisecond)
+
+	connectNoSync(t, ctx, d, d3)
+	time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+	require.Len(t, d.routingTable.ListPeers(), 1)
+	require.True(t, d.routingTable.Find(d3.self) == "")
+
+	// it works after removing d2
+	d.routingTable.RemovePeer(d2.self)
+	b, err := d.routingTable.TryAddPeer(d3.self, true, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, b)
+	require.Len(t, d.routingTable.ListPeers(), 1)
+	require.True(t, d.routingTable.Find(d3.self) != "")
+}
+
+func TestRoutingTableEndToEndMaxPerTable(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	h := bhost.New(swarmt.GenSwarm(t, ctx, swarmt.OptDisableReuseport))
+	r := NewRTPeerDiversityFilter(h, 100, 3)
 
 	d, err := New(
 		ctx,
@@ -67,7 +122,7 @@ func TestRoutingTableEndToEnd(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	// only 3 peers per prefix for a cpl
+	// only 3 peers per prefix for the table.
 	d2 := setupDHT(ctx, t, false, DisableAutoRefresh())
 	connect(t, ctx, d, d2)
 	waitForWellFormedTables(t, []*IpfsDHT{d}, 1, 1, 1*time.Second)
@@ -84,4 +139,5 @@ func TestRoutingTableEndToEnd(t *testing.T) {
 	connectNoSync(t, ctx, d, d5)
 	time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
 	require.Len(t, d.routingTable.ListPeers(), 3)
+	require.True(t, d.routingTable.Find(d5.self) == "")
 }