This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media for optimizing data collection in a distributed environment by leveraging real-time and historical data collection performance statistics and server performance data. In some configurations, a computing device can be initially configured for data collection. In such configurations, the initial configuration can include preferred target servers for a particular task. The computing device can request batches of data from the preferred target servers, and process the information through a buffer. Techniques and technologies described herein collect the batches of data from servers as well as corresponding data collection statistics (e.g., server performance per task, server historical performance, etc.) and server performance data (e.g. server status).