diff --git a/db/db_test2.cc b/db/db_test2.cc
index c03d89ca8..afde6d153 100644
--- a/db/db_test2.cc
+++ b/db/db_test2.cc
@@ -454,6 +454,22 @@ TEST_F(DBTest2, SharedWriteBufferLimitAcrossDB) {
   rocksdb::SyncPoint::GetInstance()->DisableProcessing();
 }
 
+TEST_F(DBTest2, TestWriteBufferNoLimitWithCache) {
+  Options options = CurrentOptions();
+  options.arena_block_size = 4096;
+  std::shared_ptr<Cache> cache =
+      NewLRUCache(LRUCacheOptions(10000000, 1, false, 0.0));
+  options.write_buffer_size = 50000;  // this is never hit
+  // Use a write buffer total size so that the soft limit is about
+  // 105000.
+  options.write_buffer_manager.reset(new WriteBufferManager(0, cache));
+  Reopen(options);
+
+  ASSERT_OK(Put("foo", "bar"));
+  // One dummy entry is 1MB.
+  ASSERT_GT(cache->GetUsage(), 500000);
+}
+
 namespace {
   void ValidateKeyExistence(DB* db, const std::vector<Slice>& keys_must_exist,
     const std::vector<Slice>& keys_must_not_exist) {
diff --git a/db/memtable.cc b/db/memtable.cc
index e9f4d06a6..5bf55473f 100644
--- a/db/memtable.cc
+++ b/db/memtable.cc
@@ -69,12 +69,13 @@ MemTable::MemTable(const InternalKeyComparator& cmp,
       refs_(0),
       kArenaBlockSize(OptimizeBlockSize(moptions_.arena_block_size)),
       mem_tracker_(write_buffer_manager),
-      arena_(
-          moptions_.arena_block_size,
-          (write_buffer_manager != nullptr && write_buffer_manager->enabled())
-              ? &mem_tracker_
-              : nullptr,
-          mutable_cf_options.memtable_huge_page_size),
+      arena_(moptions_.arena_block_size,
+             (write_buffer_manager != nullptr &&
+              (write_buffer_manager->enabled() ||
+               write_buffer_manager->cost_to_cache()))
+                 ? &mem_tracker_
+                 : nullptr,
+             mutable_cf_options.memtable_huge_page_size),
       table_(ioptions.memtable_factory->CreateMemTableRep(
           comparator_, &arena_, mutable_cf_options.prefix_extractor.get(),
           ioptions.info_log, column_family_id)),
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/write_buffer_manager.h b/include/rocksdb/write_buffer_manager.h
index 856cf4b24..dea904c18 100644
--- a/include/rocksdb/write_buffer_manager.h
+++ b/include/rocksdb/write_buffer_manager.h
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ class WriteBufferManager {
 
   bool enabled() const { return buffer_size_ != 0; }
 
+  bool cost_to_cache() const { return cache_rep_ != nullptr; }
+
   // Only valid if enabled()
   size_t memory_usage() const {
     return memory_used_.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
diff --git a/memtable/alloc_tracker.cc b/memtable/alloc_tracker.cc
index 9889cc423..a1fa4938c 100644
--- a/memtable/alloc_tracker.cc
+++ b/memtable/alloc_tracker.cc
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ AllocTracker::~AllocTracker() { FreeMem(); }
 
 void AllocTracker::Allocate(size_t bytes) {
   assert(write_buffer_manager_ != nullptr);
-  if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled()) {
+  if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled() ||
+      write_buffer_manager_->cost_to_cache()) {
     bytes_allocated_.fetch_add(bytes, std::memory_order_relaxed);
     write_buffer_manager_->ReserveMem(bytes);
   }
@@ -32,7 +33,8 @@ void AllocTracker::Allocate(size_t bytes) {
 
 void AllocTracker::DoneAllocating() {
   if (write_buffer_manager_ != nullptr && !done_allocating_) {
-    if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled()) {
+    if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled() ||
+        write_buffer_manager_->cost_to_cache()) {
       write_buffer_manager_->ScheduleFreeMem(
           bytes_allocated_.load(std::memory_order_relaxed));
     } else {
@@ -47,7 +49,8 @@ void AllocTracker::FreeMem() {
     DoneAllocating();
   }
   if (write_buffer_manager_ != nullptr && !freed_) {
-    if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled()) {
+    if (write_buffer_manager_->enabled() ||
+        write_buffer_manager_->cost_to_cache()) {
       write_buffer_manager_->FreeMem(
           bytes_allocated_.load(std::memory_order_relaxed));
     } else {