diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/svn_retry.py b/swh/loader/svn/svn_retry.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/svn_retry.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/svn_retry.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 SVN_RETRY_WAIT_EXP_BASE = 10
-SVN_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 5
+SVN_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 3
 
 
 def is_retryable_svn_exception(exception):