Technologies are described for improving the performance of distributed database systems. The technologies provide suggested table distributions that can reduce the performance overhead associated with database operations that involve multiple nodes, and can provide more even distribution of computing resource use. In a particular example, a method includes minimizing a scoring function that includes a plurality of performance metrics, at least a portion of the metrics being associated with a weight. Candidate table distributions can be analyzed in an iterative manner to determine a lowest-score distribution. A final table distribution can be output, such as to a user.