diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
index 6e1b2a5eb9b8e..4fb4bfdd25c70 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/netty4/Netty4Transport.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public class Netty4Transport extends TcpTransport {
 
     public static final Setting<Integer> WORKER_COUNT =
         new Setting<>("transport.netty.worker_count",
-            (s) -> Integer.toString(EsExecutors.allocatedProcessors(s) * 2),
+            (s) -> Integer.toString(EsExecutors.allocatedProcessors(s)),
             (s) -> Setting.parseInt(s, 1, "transport.netty.worker_count"), Property.NodeScope);
 
     public static final Setting<ByteSizeValue> NETTY_RECEIVE_PREDICTOR_SIZE = Setting.byteSizeSetting(
diff --git a/plugins/transport-nio/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/nio/NioTransportPlugin.java b/plugins/transport-nio/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/nio/NioTransportPlugin.java
index 84097e3a079d5..1da90e35ba7f4 100644
--- a/plugins/transport-nio/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/nio/NioTransportPlugin.java
+++ b/plugins/transport-nio/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/nio/NioTransportPlugin.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public class NioTransportPlugin extends Plugin implements NetworkPlugin {
 
     public static final Setting<Integer> NIO_WORKER_COUNT =
         new Setting<>("transport.nio.worker_count",
-            (s) -> Integer.toString(EsExecutors.allocatedProcessors(s) * 2),
+            (s) -> Integer.toString(EsExecutors.allocatedProcessors(s)),
             (s) -> Setting.parseInt(s, 1, "transport.nio.worker_count"), Setting.Property.NodeScope);
     public static final Setting<Integer> NIO_HTTP_WORKER_COUNT =
         intSetting("http.nio.worker_count", 0, 0, Setting.Property.NodeScope);