diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5c32dcdba40..128abbb1662 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 ## Minor Enchancements
 
 * **Prometheus**: Make Prometheus query field a textarea [#7663](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/7663), thx [@hagen1778](https://github.com/hagen1778)
+* **Prometheus**: Step parameter changed semantics to min step to reduce the load on Prometheus and rendering in browser [#8073](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/pull/8073), thx [@bobrik](https://github.com/bobrik)
 * **Templating**: Should not be possible to create self-referencing (recursive) template variable definitions [#7614](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/7614) thx [@thuck](https://github.com/thuck)
 * **Cloudwatch**: Correctly obtain IAM roles within ECS container tasks [#7892](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/7892) thx [@gomlgs](https://github.com/gomlgs)
 * **Units**: New number format: Scientific notation [#7781](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/issues/7781) thx [@cadnce](https://github.com/cadnce)
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
index f883b40e5ee..3cd065719c7 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ export function PrometheusDatasource(instanceSettings, $q, backendSrv, templateS
       var intervalFactor = target.intervalFactor || 1;
       target.step = query.step = this.calculateInterval(interval, intervalFactor);
       var range = Math.ceil(end - start);
-      target.step = query.step = this.adjustStep(query.step, range);
+      target.step = query.step = this.adjustStep(query.step, this.intervalSeconds(options.interval), range);
       queries.push(query);
     });
 
@@ -122,13 +122,13 @@ export function PrometheusDatasource(instanceSettings, $q, backendSrv, templateS
     });
   };
 
-  this.adjustStep = function(step, range) {
+  this.adjustStep = function(step, autoStep, range) {
     // Prometheus drop query if range/step > 11000
     // calibrate step if it is too big
     if (step !== 0 && range / step > 11000) {
       return Math.ceil(range / 11000);
     }
-    return step;
+    return Math.max(step, autoStep);
   };
 
   this.performTimeSeriesQuery = function(query, start, end) {
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ export function PrometheusDatasource(instanceSettings, $q, backendSrv, templateS
     var end = this.getPrometheusTime(options.range.to, true);
     var query = {
       expr: interpolated,
-      step: this.adjustStep(kbn.interval_to_seconds(step), Math.ceil(end - start)) + 's'
+      step: this.adjustStep(kbn.interval_to_seconds(step), 0, Math.ceil(end - start)) + 's'
     };
 
     var self = this;
@@ -229,6 +229,10 @@ export function PrometheusDatasource(instanceSettings, $q, backendSrv, templateS
   };
 
   this.calculateInterval = function(interval, intervalFactor) {
+    return Math.ceil(this.intervalSeconds(interval) * intervalFactor);
+  };
+
+  this.intervalSeconds = function(interval) {
     var m = interval.match(durationSplitRegexp);
     var dur = moment.duration(parseInt(m[1]), m[2]);
     var sec = dur.asSeconds();
@@ -236,7 +240,7 @@ export function PrometheusDatasource(instanceSettings, $q, backendSrv, templateS
       sec = 1;
     }
 
-    return Math.ceil(sec * intervalFactor);
+    return sec;
   };
 
   this.transformMetricData = function(md, options, start, end) {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/partials/query.editor.html b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/partials/query.editor.html
index 1840f74bd74..98bb359a093 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/partials/query.editor.html
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/partials/query.editor.html
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 			</input>
 		</div>
 		<div class="gf-form">
-			<label class="gf-form-label width-5">Step</label>
+			<label class="gf-form-label">Min step</label>
 			<input type="text" class="gf-form-input max-width-5" ng-model="ctrl.target.interval"
 					   data-placement="right"
 			       spellcheck='false'