Certain aspects provide systems and methods of compacting data within a log-structured merge tree (LSM tree) using sharding. In certain aspects, a method includes determining a size of the LSM tree, determining a compaction time for a compaction of the LSM tree based on the size, determining a number of compaction entities for performing the compaction in parallel based on the compaction time, determining a number of shards based on the number of compaction entities, and determining a key range associated with the LSM tree. The method further comprises dividing the key range by the number of shards into a number of sub key ranges, wherein each of the number of sub key ranges corresponds to a shard of the number of shards and assigning the number of shards to the number of compaction entities for compaction.