diff --git a/xtable-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/RunSync.java b/xtable-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/RunSync.java
index facbcf3a6..4aeaa6ff8 100644
--- a/xtable-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/RunSync.java
+++ b/xtable-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/RunSync.java
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ public class RunSync {
   private static final String CONTINUOUS_MODE = "m";
   private static final String CONTINUOUS_MODE_INTERVAL = "t";
   private static final String HELP_OPTION = "h";
+  private static final String SYNC_TIMEOUT_OPTION = "timeout";
 
   private static final Options OPTIONS =
       new Options()
@@ -115,6 +116,11 @@ public class RunSync {
               "continuousModeInterval",
               true,
               "The interval in seconds to schedule the loop. Requires --continuousMode to be set. Defaults to 5 seconds.")
+          .addOption(
+              SYNC_TIMEOUT_OPTION,
+              "syncTimeout",
+              true,
+              "The maximum time in seconds allowed for a single table sync before timing out. Defaults to no timeout.")
           .addOption(HELP_OPTION, "help", false, "Displays help information to run this utility");
 
   static SourceTable sourceTableBuilder(
@@ -155,38 +161,70 @@ static List<TargetTable> targetTableBuilder(
     return targetTables;
   }
 
-  static void syncTableMetdata(
+  static void syncTableMetadata(
       DatasetConfig datasetConfig,
       List<String> tableFormatList,
       CatalogConfig catalogConfig,
       Configuration hadoopConf,
-      ConversionSourceProvider conversionSourceProvider) {
+      ConversionSourceProvider conversionSourceProvider,
+      long timeoutInSeconds) {
     ConversionController conversionController = new ConversionController(hadoopConf);
-    for (DatasetConfig.Table table : datasetConfig.getDatasets()) {
-      log.info(
-          "Running sync for basePath {} for following table formats {}",
-          table.getTableBasePath(),
-          tableFormatList);
-      Properties sourceProperties = new Properties();
-      if (table.getPartitionSpec() != null) {
-        sourceProperties.put(
-            HudiSourceConfig.PARTITION_FIELD_SPEC_CONFIG, table.getPartitionSpec());
-      }
+    // use a single-thread executor since tasks are processed sequentially
+    java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService syncExecutor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
+    try {
 
-      SourceTable sourceTable =
-          sourceTableBuilder(table, catalogConfig, datasetConfig, sourceProperties);
-      List<TargetTable> targetTables = targetTableBuilder(table, catalogConfig, tableFormatList);
-      ConversionConfig conversionConfig =
-          ConversionConfig.builder()
-              .sourceTable(sourceTable)
-              .targetTables(targetTables)
-              .syncMode(SyncMode.INCREMENTAL)
-              .build();
-      try {
-        conversionController.sync(conversionConfig, conversionSourceProvider);
-      } catch (Exception e) {
-        log.error("Error running sync for {}", table.getTableBasePath(), e);
+      for (DatasetConfig.Table table : datasetConfig.getDatasets()) {
+        log.info(
+            "Running sync for basePath {} for following table formats {}",
+            table.getTableBasePath(),
+            tableFormatList);
+        Properties sourceProperties = new Properties();
+        if (table.getPartitionSpec() != null) {
+          sourceProperties.put(
+              HudiSourceConfig.PARTITION_FIELD_SPEC_CONFIG, table.getPartitionSpec());
+        }
+
+        SourceTable sourceTable =
+            sourceTableBuilder(table, catalogConfig, datasetConfig, sourceProperties);
+        List<TargetTable> targetTables = targetTableBuilder(table, catalogConfig, tableFormatList);
+        ConversionConfig conversionConfig =
+            ConversionConfig.builder()
+                .sourceTable(sourceTable)
+                .targetTables(targetTables)
+                .syncMode(SyncMode.INCREMENTAL)
+                .build();
+        if (timeoutInSeconds > 0) {
+          java.util.concurrent.Future<?> standardFuture =
+              syncExecutor.submit(
+                  () -> {
+                    conversionController.sync(conversionConfig, conversionSourceProvider);
+                  });
+          try {
+            standardFuture.get(timeoutInSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+          } catch (java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException e) {
+            log.error(
+                "Sync timed out for {} after {} seconds. Triggering thread interrupt.",
+                table.getTableBasePath(),
+                timeoutInSeconds);
+            standardFuture.cancel(true);
+          } catch (java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException e) {
+            log.error("Error running sync for {}", table.getTableBasePath(), e.getCause());
+          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            log.error("Sync main runner thread was interrupted", e);
+            standardFuture.cancel(true);
+            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+          }
+        } else {
+          // fallback to original synchronous behavior if no timeout option is provided
+          try {
+            conversionController.sync(conversionConfig, conversionSourceProvider);
+          } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.error("Error running sync for {}", table.getTableBasePath(), e);
+          }
+        }
       }
+    } finally {
+      syncExecutor.shutdownNow();
     }
   }
 
@@ -288,14 +326,29 @@ private static void runSync(CommandLine cmd) throws IOException {
     String icebergCatalogConfigpath = getValueFromConfig(cmd, ICEBERG_CATALOG_CONFIG_PATH);
     String hadoopConfigpath = getValueFromConfig(cmd, HADOOP_CONFIG_PATH);
     String conversionProviderConfigpath = getValueFromConfig(cmd, CONVERTERS_CONFIG_PATH);
+    String rawTimeout = getValueFromConfig(cmd, SYNC_TIMEOUT_OPTION);
+    if (rawTimeout != null && !rawTimeout.isEmpty()) {
+      com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument(
+          rawTimeout.matches("^\\d+$"),
+          "Invalid value for --%s: '%s' must be a valid non-negative integer.",
+          SYNC_TIMEOUT_OPTION,
+          rawTimeout);
+    }
+    long timeoutInSeconds =
+        rawTimeout == null || rawTimeout.isEmpty() ? 0L : Long.parseLong(rawTimeout);
     DatasetConfig datasetConfig = getDatasetConfig(datasetConfigpath);
     CatalogConfig catalogConfig = getIcebergCatalogConfig(icebergCatalogConfigpath);
     Configuration hadoopConf = gethadoopConf(hadoopConfigpath);
     ConversionSourceProvider conversionSourceProvider =
         getConversionSourceProvider(conversionProviderConfigpath, datasetConfig, hadoopConf);
     List<String> tableFormatList = datasetConfig.getTargetFormats();
-    syncTableMetdata(
-        datasetConfig, tableFormatList, catalogConfig, hadoopConf, conversionSourceProvider);
+    syncTableMetadata(
+        datasetConfig,
+        tableFormatList,
+        catalogConfig,
+        hadoopConf,
+        conversionSourceProvider,
+        timeoutInSeconds);
   }
 
   static byte[] getCustomConfigurations(String Configpath) throws IOException {
diff --git a/xtable-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/ITRunSync.java b/xtable-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/ITRunSync.java
index f18ce867f..59d3768b6 100644
--- a/xtable-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/ITRunSync.java
+++ b/xtable-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/xtable/utilities/ITRunSync.java
@@ -93,6 +93,53 @@ void testContinuousSyncMode(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void testSyncCompletesBeforeTimeout(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
+    String tableName = "tiny-table";
+    try (GenericTable table =
+        TestJavaHudiTable.forStandardSchema(
+            tableName, tempDir, null, HoodieTableType.COPY_ON_WRITE)) {
+      table.insertRows(5); // small numRows for it to finish before the timeout does
+      File configFile = writeConfigFile(tempDir, table, tableName);
+
+      String[] args = new String[] {"--datasetConfig", configFile.getPath(), "--syncTimeout", "60"};
+      RunSync.main(args);
+      // check successful sync
+      Path icebergMetadataPath = Paths.get(URI.create(table.getBasePath() + "/metadata"));
+      waitForNumIcebergCommits(icebergMetadataPath, 3);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void testSyncTimeoutFires(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
+    String tableName = "large-table";
+    try (GenericTable table =
+        TestJavaHudiTable.forStandardSchema(
+            tableName, tempDir, null, HoodieTableType.COPY_ON_WRITE)) {
+
+      table.insertRows(5000);
+      File configFile = writeConfigFile(tempDir, table, tableName);
+
+      long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+      String[] args =
+          new String[] {
+            "--datasetConfig",
+            configFile.getPath(),
+            "--syncTimeout",
+            "1" // rapid timeout compared to the large table
+          };
+      RunSync.main(args);
+
+      long durationInSeconds = (System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) / 1000;
+
+      org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue(
+          durationInSeconds < 3, // being generous with 3 secs
+          "The sync should have cut off and stopped immediately around 1 second. Took: "
+              + durationInSeconds);
+    }
+  }
+
   private static File writeConfigFile(Path tempDir, GenericTable table, String tableName)
       throws IOException {
     RunSync.DatasetConfig config =