diff --git a/REFERENCE.md b/REFERENCE.md
index a033dc459..e57adac50 100644
--- a/REFERENCE.md
+++ b/REFERENCE.md
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ interface AdvancedSettings {
   retryProcessDelay: number = 5000; // delay before processing next job in case of internal error.
   backoffStrategies: {}; // A set of custom backoff strategies keyed by name.
   drainDelay: number = 5; // A timeout for when the queue is in drained state (empty waiting for jobs).
+  keepProcesses: boolean = true; // Flag if true then child processes are kept for each processor, false kills child processes after finish
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/lib/process/child-pool.js b/lib/process/child-pool.js
index 122a03f0b..5b21c9e97 100644
--- a/lib/process/child-pool.js
+++ b/lib/process/child-pool.js
@@ -10,10 +10,17 @@ var ChildPool = function ChildPool() {
     return new ChildPool();
   }
 
+  // Flag for keeping or killing processes after finished processing, default keep always
+  this.keepProcesses = true;
+
   this.retained = {};
   this.free = {};
 };
 
+ChildPool.prototype.setKeepProcesses = function(keepProcesses) {
+  this.keepProcesses = keepProcesses;
+};
+
 ChildPool.prototype.retain = function(processFile) {
   var _this = this;
   var child = _this.getFree(processFile).pop();
@@ -42,8 +49,12 @@ ChildPool.prototype.retain = function(processFile) {
 };
 
 ChildPool.prototype.release = function(child) {
-  delete this.retained[child.pid];
-  this.getFree(child.processFile).push(child);
+  if (this.keepProcesses === true) {
+    delete this.retained[child.pid];
+    this.getFree(child.processFile).push(child);
+  } else {
+    this.kill(child);
+  }
 };
 
 ChildPool.prototype.remove = function(child) {
diff --git a/lib/queue.js b/lib/queue.js
index dad3772a8..a03223d50 100755
--- a/lib/queue.js
+++ b/lib/queue.js
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@ var Queue = function Queue(name, url, opts) {
     guardInterval: 5000,
     retryProcessDelay: 5000,
     drainDelay: 5,
-    backoffStrategies: {}
+    backoffStrategies: {},
+    keepProcesses: true
   });
 
   this.settings.lockRenewTime =
@@ -250,6 +251,13 @@ var Queue = function Queue(name, url, opts) {
   this.processJob = this.processJob.bind(this);
   this.getJobFromId = Job.fromId.bind(null, this);
 
+  // Check settings to see if processes will be kept after finishing processing, default set to true
+  this.keepProcesses =
+    this.settings.keepProcesses !== undefined &&
+    this.settings.keepProcesses === false
+      ? false
+      : true;
+
   var keys = {};
   _.each(
     [
@@ -672,6 +680,10 @@ Queue.prototype.start = function(concurrency) {
   });
 };
 
+Queue.prototype.setKeepProcesses = function(keepProcesses) {
+  this.keepProcesses = keepProcesses;
+};
+
 Queue.prototype.setHandler = function(name, handler) {
   if (!handler) {
     throw new Error('Cannot set an undefined handler');
@@ -691,6 +703,7 @@ Queue.prototype.setHandler = function(name, handler) {
     }
 
     this.childPool = this.childPool || require('./process/child-pool')();
+    this.childPool.setKeepProcesses(this.keepProcesses);
 
     var sandbox = require('./process/sandbox');
     this.handlers[name] = sandbox(handler, this.childPool).bind(this);
diff --git a/test/test_child-pool.js b/test/test_child-pool.js
index 5f54e8681..e78a1302c 100644
--- a/test/test_child-pool.js
+++ b/test/test_child-pool.js
@@ -142,4 +142,20 @@ describe('Child pool', function() {
         expect(children).to.include(child);
       });
   });
+
+  it('should kill child after processing is finished and not retain it', function() {
+    var processor = __dirname + '/fixtures/fixture_processor_bar.js';
+    var child;
+
+    pool.setKeepProcesses(false);
+
+    return pool.retain(processor).then(function(_child) {
+      expect(_child).to.be.ok;
+      child = _child;
+      pool.release(child);
+
+      expect(pool.retained).to.be.empty;
+      expect(pool.free[processor]).to.be.empty;
+    });
+  });
 });