diff --git a/packages/memcache-client/README.md b/packages/memcache-client/README.md
index 2e860ec..a179b6b 100644
--- a/packages/memcache-client/README.md
+++ b/packages/memcache-client/README.md
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ const options = {
   lifetime: 100, // TTL 100 seconds
   cmdTimeout: 3000, // command timeout in milliseconds
   connectTimeout: 8000, // connect to server timeout in ms
+  keepAlive: 120000, // keepalive initial delay in ms, or `false` to disable
   noDelay: true, // whether to enable TCP_NODELAY on connections
   compressor: require("custom-compressor"),
   logger: require("./custom-logger"),
@@ -191,6 +192,7 @@ const client = new MemcacheClient(options);
     -   If a command didn't receive response before this timeout value, then it will cause the connection to shutdown and returns Error.
 -   `connectTimeout` - **_optional_** Custom self connect to server timeout in milliseconds.  It's disabled if set to 0.  DEFAULT: 0
     -   The error object from this will have `connecting` set to `true`
+-   `keepAlive` - **_optional_** Initial delay (in milliseconds) between the last data packet received on a connection and when a keepalive probe should be sent, or `false` to disable the `SO_KEEPALIVE` socket option entirely.  DEFAULT: 1 minute (60000 milliseconds)
 -   `keepDangleSocket` - **_optional_** After `connectTimeout` trigger, do not destroy the socket but keep listening for errors on it.  DEFAULT: false
 -   `dangleSocketWaitTimeout` - **_optional_** How long to wait for errors on dangle socket before destroying it.  DEFAULT: 5 minutes (30000 milliseconds)
 -   `compressor` - **_optional_** a custom compressor for compressing the data.  See [data compression](#data-compression) for more details.
diff --git a/packages/memcache-client/src/lib/connection.ts b/packages/memcache-client/src/lib/connection.ts
index f8e7644..a3588bd 100644
--- a/packages/memcache-client/src/lib/connection.ts
+++ b/packages/memcache-client/src/lib/connection.ts
@@ -342,6 +342,16 @@ export class MemcacheConnection extends MemcacheParser {
   }
 
   _setupConnection(socket: Socket): void {
+    const keepAlive = this.client?.options?.keepAlive;
+
+    if (keepAlive !== false) {
+      const initialDelay = typeof keepAlive === "number" && Number.isFinite(keepAlive)
+        ? keepAlive
+        : 60000;
+
+      socket.setKeepAlive(true, initialDelay);
+    }
+
     if (this.client?.options?.noDelay) {
       socket.setNoDelay(true);
     }
diff --git a/packages/memcache-client/src/test/spec/client.spec.ts b/packages/memcache-client/src/test/spec/client.spec.ts
index d82ff02..f349d20 100644
--- a/packages/memcache-client/src/test/spec/client.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/memcache-client/src/test/spec/client.spec.ts
@@ -279,35 +279,81 @@ describe("memcache client", function () {
     });
   });
 
-  it("should not enable TCP_NODELAY by default", async () => {
-    await startSingleServer();
+  it("should enable SO_KEEPALIVE with an initial delay of 60000 ms by default", async () => {
+    const _setKeepAlive = Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive;
+    const mockKeepAlive = jest.fn();
+    const x = new MemcacheClient({ server });
+
+    try {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = mockKeepAlive;
+      await x.set("foo", "bar");
+    } finally {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = _setKeepAlive;
+      x.shutdown();
+    }
+
+    expect(mockKeepAlive).toHaveBeenCalledWith(true, 60000);
+  });
+
+  it("should enable SO_KEEPALIVE with a custom initial delay when the keepAlive client option is a number", async () => {
+    const _setKeepAlive = Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive;
+    const mockKeepAlive = jest.fn();
+    const x = new MemcacheClient({ server, keepAlive: 10000 });
+
+    try {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = mockKeepAlive;
+      await x.set("foo", "bar");
+    } finally {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = _setKeepAlive;
+      x.shutdown();
+    }
+
+    expect(mockKeepAlive).toHaveBeenCalledWith(true, 10000);
+  });
+
+  it("should not enable SO_KEEPALIVE when the keepAlive client option is `false`", async () => {
+    const _setKeepAlive = Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive;
+    const mockKeepAlive = jest.fn();
+    const x = new MemcacheClient({ server, keepAlive: false });
+
+    try {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = mockKeepAlive;
+      await x.set("foo", "bar");
+    } finally {
+      Socket.prototype.setKeepAlive = _setKeepAlive;
+      x.shutdown();
+    }
+
+    expect(mockKeepAlive).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
 
+  it("should not enable TCP_NODELAY by default", async () => {
     const _setNoDelay = Socket.prototype.setNoDelay;
     const mockNoDelay = jest.fn();
+    const x = new MemcacheClient({ server });
 
     try {
       Socket.prototype.setNoDelay = mockNoDelay;
-      const x = new MemcacheClient({ server: server });
       await x.set("foo", "bar");
     } finally {
       Socket.prototype.setNoDelay = _setNoDelay;
+      x.shutdown();
     }
 
     expect(mockNoDelay).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
   it("should enable TCP_NODELAY when options.noDelay is true", async () => {
-    await startSingleServer();
-
     const _setNoDelay = Socket.prototype.setNoDelay;
     const mockNoDelay = jest.fn();
+    const x = new MemcacheClient({ server, noDelay: true });
 
     try {
       Socket.prototype.setNoDelay = mockNoDelay;
-      const x = new MemcacheClient({ server: server, noDelay: true });
       await x.set("foo", "bar");
     } finally {
       Socket.prototype.setNoDelay = _setNoDelay;
+      x.shutdown();
     }
 
     expect(mockNoDelay).toHaveBeenCalled();
diff --git a/packages/memcache-client/src/types.ts b/packages/memcache-client/src/types.ts
index 068a2bd..f8a92e3 100644
--- a/packages/memcache-client/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/memcache-client/src/types.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ export type MemcacheClientOptions = {
   noDelay?: boolean;
   cmdTimeout?: number;
   connectTimeout?: number;
+  keepAlive?: number | false;
   keepDangleSocket?: boolean;
   dangleSocketWaitTimeout?: number;
   compressor?: CompressorLibrary;