diff --git a/robotpy_installer/installer.py b/robotpy_installer/installer.py
index af1b26e..67d5111 100755
--- a/robotpy_installer/installer.py
+++ b/robotpy_installer/installer.py
@@ -581,6 +581,9 @@ def pip_install(
             else:
                 pip_args.append(package)
 
+        # pip is greedy
+        self.ensure_more_memory()
+
         try:
             self.ssh.exec_cmd(shlex.join(pip_args), check=True, print_output=True)
         except SshExecError as e:
@@ -593,6 +596,9 @@ def pip_install(
     def pip_list(self):
         self.ensure_robot_pip()
 
+        # pip is greedy
+        self.ensure_more_memory()
+
         with catch_ssh_error("pip3 list"):
             self.ssh.exec_cmd(
                 f"{_PIP_STUB_PATH} --no-cache-dir --disable-pip-version-check list",
@@ -618,6 +624,9 @@ def pip_uninstall(
         ]
         pip_args.extend(packages)
 
+        # pip is greedy
+        self.ensure_more_memory()
+
         with catch_ssh_error("uninstalling packages"):
             self.ssh.exec_cmd(shlex.join(pip_args), check=True, print_output=True)