diff --git a/doc/mimalloc-doc.h b/doc/mimalloc-doc.h
index 9525c9ea..69f0c93a 100644
--- a/doc/mimalloc-doc.h
+++ b/doc/mimalloc-doc.h
@@ -756,6 +756,34 @@ bool mi_heap_check_owned(mi_heap_t* heap, const void* p);
 /// @see mi_heap_get_default()
 bool mi_check_owned(const void* p);
 
+/// Type of deferred free functions.
+/// @param heap The heap.
+/// @param force If \a true all outstanding items should be freed.
+/// @param heartbeat A monotonically increasing count.
+/// @param arg Argument that was passed at registration to hold extra state.
+///
+/// @see mi_heap_register_deferred_free
+typedef void (mi_local_deferred_free_fun)(mi_heap_t* heap,bool force,unsigned long long heartbeat,void* arg);
+
+/// Register a deferred free function.
+/// @param heap The heap where deferred function should be registered.
+/// @param deferred_free Address of a deferred free-ing function or \a NULL to unregister.
+/// @param arg Argument that will be passed on to the deferred free function.
+///
+/// Some runtime systems (JSC through lazy sweeping, JikesRVM has 
+/// both lazy sweeping and deferred RC) use deferred free-ing, for example when using
+/// reference counting to limit the worst case free time.
+/// Such systems can register (re-entrant) deferred free function
+/// to free more memory on demand. When the \a force parameter is
+/// \a true all possible memory should be freed.
+/// The per-thread \a heartbeat parameter is monotonically increasing
+/// and guaranteed to be deterministic if the program allocates
+/// deterministically. The \a deferred_free function is guaranteed
+/// to be called deterministically after some number of allocations
+/// (regardless of freeing or available free memory).
+/// At most one \a deferred_free function can be active.
+void mi_heap_register_deferred_free(mi_heap_t* heap,mi_local_deferred_free_fun* deferred_free, void* arg);
+
 /// An area of heap space contains blocks of a single size.
 /// The bytes in freed blocks are `committed - used`.
 typedef struct mi_heap_area_s {
diff --git a/include/mimalloc-types.h b/include/mimalloc-types.h
index 9b3f5972..bc457478 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc-types.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc-types.h
@@ -406,6 +406,9 @@ struct mi_heap_s {
   size_t                page_retired_max;                    // largest retired index into the `pages` array.
   mi_heap_t*            next;                                // list of heaps per thread
   bool                  no_reclaim;                          // `true` if this heap should not reclaim abandoned pages
+
+  mi_local_deferred_free_fun* deferred_free;                 // local deferred free function
+  void*                 deferred_free_arg;                   // argument passed to local deferred free function
 };
 
 
diff --git a/include/mimalloc.h b/include/mimalloc.h
index 4fc7a752..96571d14 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc.h
@@ -186,6 +186,9 @@ mi_decl_nodiscard mi_decl_export void* mi_realloc_aligned_at(void* p, size_t new
 struct mi_heap_s;
 typedef struct mi_heap_s mi_heap_t;
 
+typedef void (mi_cdecl mi_local_deferred_free_fun)(mi_heap_t* heap,bool force,unsigned long long heartbeat,void* arg);
+
+
 mi_decl_nodiscard mi_decl_export mi_heap_t* mi_heap_new(void);
 mi_decl_export void       mi_heap_delete(mi_heap_t* heap);
 mi_decl_export void       mi_heap_destroy(mi_heap_t* heap);
@@ -193,7 +196,7 @@ mi_decl_export mi_heap_t* mi_heap_set_default(mi_heap_t* heap);
 mi_decl_export mi_heap_t* mi_heap_get_default(void);
 mi_decl_export mi_heap_t* mi_heap_get_backing(void);
 mi_decl_export void       mi_heap_collect(mi_heap_t* heap, bool force) mi_attr_noexcept;
-
+mi_decl_export void       mi_heap_register_deferred_free(mi_heap_t* heap,mi_local_deferred_free_fun* fun,void* arg);
 mi_decl_nodiscard mi_decl_export mi_decl_restrict void* mi_heap_malloc(mi_heap_t* heap, size_t size) mi_attr_noexcept mi_attr_malloc mi_attr_alloc_size(2);
 mi_decl_nodiscard mi_decl_export mi_decl_restrict void* mi_heap_zalloc(mi_heap_t* heap, size_t size) mi_attr_noexcept mi_attr_malloc mi_attr_alloc_size(2);
 mi_decl_nodiscard mi_decl_export mi_decl_restrict void* mi_heap_calloc(mi_heap_t* heap, size_t count, size_t size) mi_attr_noexcept mi_attr_malloc mi_attr_alloc_size2(2, 3);
diff --git a/src/heap.c b/src/heap.c
index 94fed2b5..9d2c8b9a 100644
--- a/src/heap.c
+++ b/src/heap.c
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ mi_decl_nodiscard mi_heap_t* mi_heap_new(void) {
   // push on the thread local heaps list
   heap->next = heap->tld->heaps;
   heap->tld->heaps = heap;
+  heap->deferred_free = NULL;
+  heap->deferred_free_arg = NULL;
   return heap;
 }
 
@@ -593,3 +595,9 @@ bool mi_heap_visit_blocks(const mi_heap_t* heap, bool visit_blocks, mi_block_vis
   mi_visit_blocks_args_t args = { visit_blocks, visitor, arg };
   return mi_heap_visit_areas(heap, &mi_heap_area_visitor, &args);
 }
+
+
+void mi_heap_register_deferred_free(mi_heap_t* heap,mi_local_deferred_free_fun* fun,void*arg) {
+  heap->deferred_free = fun;
+  heap->deferred_free_arg = arg;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index a2a6be75..b341b763 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ mi_decl_cache_align const mi_heap_t _mi_heap_empty = {
   0,                // page count
   MI_BIN_FULL, 0,   // page retired min/max
   NULL,             // next
-  false
+  false,
+  NULL,
+  NULL
 };
 
 
@@ -131,7 +133,9 @@ mi_heap_t _mi_heap_main = {
   0,                // page count
   MI_BIN_FULL, 0,   // page retired min/max
   NULL,             // next heap
-  false             // can reclaim
+  false,             // can reclaim
+  NULL,
+  NULL
 };
 
 bool _mi_process_is_initialized = false;  // set to `true` in `mi_process_init`.
diff --git a/src/page.c b/src/page.c
index 46dfd26f..28e980a4 100644
--- a/src/page.c
+++ b/src/page.c
@@ -784,9 +784,16 @@ static _Atomic(void*) deferred_arg; // = NULL
 
 void _mi_deferred_free(mi_heap_t* heap, bool force) {
   heap->tld->heartbeat++;
-  if (deferred_free != NULL && !heap->tld->recurse) {
+  if (!heap->tld->recurse) {
     heap->tld->recurse = true;
-    deferred_free(force, heap->tld->heartbeat, mi_atomic_load_ptr_relaxed(void,&deferred_arg));
+    if (deferred_free != NULL) {
+      // first we invoke global deferred free function (if it is defined).
+      deferred_free(force, heap->tld->heartbeat, mi_atomic_load_ptr_relaxed(void,&deferred_arg));
+    }
+    if (heap->deferred_free != NULL) {
+      // invoke deferred free function that is defined to do deferred free on specific heap instance.  
+      (heap->deferred_free)(heap, force, heap->tld->heartbeat, heap->deferred_free_arg);
+    }
     heap->tld->recurse = false;
   }
 }