diff --git a/cluster/kubemark/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/kubemark/gce/config-default.sh
index d08b9d3bbe6..40c8b82d567 100644
--- a/cluster/kubemark/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/kubemark/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ GCLOUD=gcloud
 ZONE=${KUBE_GCE_ZONE:-us-central1-b}
 REGION=${ZONE%-*}
 # KUBEMARK_NUM_NODES overrides NUM_NODES if set
-NUM_NODES=${KUBEMARK_NUM_NODES:-${NUM_NODES:-100}}
+NUM_NODES=${KUBEMARK_NUM_NODES:-${NUM_NODES:-10}}
 # KUBEMARK_MASTER_SIZE overrides MASTER_SIZE if set
 MASTER_SIZE=${KUBEMARK_MASTER_SIZE:-${MASTER_SIZE:-n1-standard-$(get-master-size)}}
 MASTER_DISK_TYPE=pd-ssd