diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index b42ebbda57..9ca14e83d6 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   * Add pumactl `thread-backtraces` command to print thread backtraces (#2053)
   * Configuration: `environment` is read from `RAILS_ENV`, if `RACK_ENV` can't be found (#2022)
   * Do not set user_config to quiet by default to allow for file config (#2074)
-  * `GC.compact` is called before fork if available (#2093)
+  * `GC.compact` is called before fork if available (#2093), otherwise GC.start is called
   * Add `requests_count` to workers stats. (#2106)
   * Increases maximum URI path length from 2048 to 8196 bytes (#2167)
   * Force shutdown responses can be overridden by using the `lowlevel_error_handler` config (#2203)
diff --git a/lib/puma/cluster.rb b/lib/puma/cluster.rb
index 7a3d3f7fa7..d3e597fab7 100644
--- a/lib/puma/cluster.rb
+++ b/lib/puma/cluster.rb
@@ -459,7 +459,11 @@ def run
       @master_read, @worker_write = read, @wakeup
 
       @launcher.config.run_hooks :before_fork, nil, @launcher.events
-      GC.compact if GC.respond_to?(:compact)
+      if GC.respond_to?(:compact)
+        GC.compact
+      else
+        GC.start
+      end
 
       spawn_workers