Examples described herein include systems and methods for optimizing the number of servers in a cluster. In one example, a number of application servers, a number of backend servers, and a first disk throughput of a backend server to be included in the cluster are determined. The first disk throughput is determined based on the storage capacity of the backend server and a first round trip time. Example systems and method can also include validating the number of application servers based on a cluster throughput and one of a network interface card bandwidth of an application server to be included in the cluster and a load bearing capacity of the application server. The systems and methods can further include determining a second disk throughput of the backend server and increasing the number of backend servers if the second disk throughput is less than the second disk throughput.