diff --git a/manifests/agents/ovn_metadata.pp b/manifests/agents/ovn_metadata.pp
index 32e15c695..a1451c261 100644
--- a/manifests/agents/ovn_metadata.pp
+++ b/manifests/agents/ovn_metadata.pp
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 #   (optional) Number of separate worker processes to spawn.  Greater than 0
 #   launches that number of child processes as workers.  The parent process
 #   manages them.
-#   Defaults to: $::os_workers
+#   Defaults to: 2
 #
 # [*metadata_backlog*]
 #   (optional) Number of backlog requests to configure the metadata server socket with.
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class neutron::agents::ovn_metadata (
   $metadata_host             = $::os_service_default,
   $metadata_port             = $::os_service_default,
   $metadata_protocol         = $::os_service_default,
-  $metadata_workers          = $::os_workers,
+  $metadata_workers          = 2,
   $metadata_backlog          = $::os_service_default,
   $metadata_insecure         = $::os_service_default,
   $nova_client_cert          = $::os_service_default,
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/reduce-ovn-metadata-workers-6ed825307997f8b9.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-ovn-metadata-workers-6ed825307997f8b9.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1df081d41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-ovn-metadata-workers-6ed825307997f8b9.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    Switched the default value of the ``metadata_workers`` configuration
+    option for the OVN metadata agents to 2 (from $::os_workers). While
+    the OVS metadata agents runs on the controllers/gateway nodes (and
+    defaults to $::os_workers) the OVN metadata agents are distributed
+    and runs on the compute nodes instead so, there's no point in running
+    dozen of them on each compute. Also, by reducing the number of workers
+    we also reduce the burden on the OVSDB that the OVN metadata agent
+    connects to making OVN more scalable.
diff --git a/spec/classes/neutron_agents_ovn_metadata_spec.rb b/spec/classes/neutron_agents_ovn_metadata_spec.rb
index c193de525..6b286776a 100644
--- a/spec/classes/neutron_agents_ovn_metadata_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/neutron_agents_ovn_metadata_spec.rb
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ describe 'neutron::agents::ovn_metadata' do
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/nova_metadata_host').with(:value => '<SERVICE DEFAULT>')
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/nova_metadata_port').with(:value => '<SERVICE DEFAULT>')
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/nova_metadata_protocol').with(:value => '<SERVICE DEFAULT>')
-      is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/metadata_workers').with(:value => facts[:os_workers])
+      is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/metadata_workers').with(:value => 2)
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/metadata_backlog').with(:value => '<SERVICE DEFAULT>')
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/nova_metadata_insecure').with(:value => '<SERVICE DEFAULT>')
       is_expected.to contain_ovn_metadata_agent_config('DEFAULT/state_path').with(:value => params[:state_path])