diff --git a/metricbeat/module/redis/key/_meta/docs.asciidoc b/metricbeat/module/redis/key/_meta/docs.asciidoc
index 89dfcc03658..b81ba13c166 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/redis/key/_meta/docs.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/module/redis/key/_meta/docs.asciidoc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ length when available, and its ttl.
 Patterns are configured as a list containing these fields:
 * `pattern` (required): pattern for key names, as accepted by the Redis
   `KEYS` or `SCAN` commands.
-* `max` (optional): safeguard when using patterns with wildcards to avoid
+* `limit` (optional): safeguard when using patterns with wildcards to avoid
   collecting too many keys (Default: 0, no limit)
 * `keyspace` (optional): Identifier of the database to use to look for the keys
   (Default: 0)
@@ -21,5 +21,5 @@ whose name starts with `pipeline-*`, with a limit of 20 keys.
   metricsets: ['key']
   key.patterns:
     - name: 'pipeline-*'
-      max: 20
+      limit: 20
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/redis/key/key.go b/metricbeat/module/redis/key/key.go
index 9c04a424050..86943729dca 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/redis/key/key.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/redis/key/key.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ type MetricSet struct {
 type KeyPattern struct {
 	Keyspace uint   `config:"keyspace"`
 	Pattern  string `config:"pattern" validate:"required"`
-	Max      uint   `config:"max"`
+	Limit    uint   `config:"limit"`
 }
 
 // New creates new instance of MetricSet
@@ -88,14 +88,14 @@ func (m *MetricSet) Fetch(r mb.ReporterV2) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		keys, err := redis.FetchKeys(conn, p.Pattern, p.Max)
+		keys, err := redis.FetchKeys(conn, p.Pattern, p.Limit)
 		if err != nil {
 			logp.Err("Failed to fetch list of keys in keyspace %d with pattern '%s': %s", p.Keyspace, p.Pattern, err)
 			continue
 		}
-		if p.Max > 0 && len(keys) > int(p.Max) {
-			debugf("Collecting stats for %d keys, but there are more available for pattern '%s' in keyspace %d", p.Max)
-			keys = keys[:p.Max]
+		if p.Limit > 0 && len(keys) > int(p.Limit) {
+			debugf("Collecting stats for %d keys, but there are more available for pattern '%s' in keyspace %d", p.Limit)
+			keys = keys[:p.Limit]
 		}
 
 		for _, key := range keys {
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/redis/redis.go b/metricbeat/module/redis/redis.go
index 0f6c01d0aec..0746fc64305 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/redis/redis.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/redis/redis.go
@@ -137,11 +137,12 @@ func FetchKeyInfo(c rd.Conn, key string) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
 	return info, nil
 }
 
-// FetchKeys gets a list of keys based on a pattern using SCAN, `max` is a
+// FetchKeys gets a list of keys based on a pattern using SCAN, `limit` is a
 // safeguard to limit the number of commands executed and the number of keys
-// returned, it is not a hard-limit to the length of the string. Setting
-// `max` to 0 disables the limit.
-func FetchKeys(c rd.Conn, pattern string, max uint) ([]string, error) {
+// returned, if more than `limit` keys are being collected the method stops
+// and returns the keys already collected. Setting `limit` to ' disables this
+// limit.
+func FetchKeys(c rd.Conn, pattern string, limit uint) ([]string, error) {
 	cursor := 0
 	var keys []string
 	for {
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ func FetchKeys(c rd.Conn, pattern string, max uint) ([]string, error) {
 
 		keys = append(keys, scanKeys...)
 
-		if cursor == 0 || (max > 0 && len(keys) > int(max)) {
+		if cursor == 0 || (limit > 0 && len(keys) > int(limit)) {
 			break
 		}
 	}