diff --git a/augur/application/cli/backend.py b/augur/application/cli/backend.py
index 61a34d7fcf..439b359abf 100644
--- a/augur/application/cli/backend.py
+++ b/augur/application/cli/backend.py
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ def determine_worker_processes(ratio,maximum):
         sleep_time += 6
 
         #20% of estimate, Maximum value of 25
-        secondary_num_processes = determine_worker_processes(.2, 50)
+        secondary_num_processes = determine_worker_processes(.2, 26)
         logger.info(f"Starting secondary worker processes with concurrency={secondary_num_processes}")
         secondary_worker = f"celery -A augur.tasks.init.celery_app.celery_app worker -l info --concurrency={secondary_num_processes} -n secondary:{uuid.uuid4().hex}@%h -Q secondary"
         process_list.append(subprocess.Popen(secondary_worker.split(" ")))