diff --git a/net/gce.sh b/net/gce.sh
index 3863b47d93..dad7a6d42b 100755
--- a/net/gce.sh
+++ b/net/gce.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ source "$here"/../scripts/gcloud.sh
 source "$here"/common.sh
 
 prefix=testnet-dev-${USER//[^A-Za-z0-9]/}
-validatorNodeCount=10
+validatorNodeCount=5
 clientNodeCount=1
 leaderBootDiskSize=1TB
 leaderMachineType=n1-standard-16