diff --git a/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/VertxCoreRecorder.java b/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/VertxCoreRecorder.java
index 4a4161d6005734..1d4ff48c2413d4 100644
--- a/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/VertxCoreRecorder.java
+++ b/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/VertxCoreRecorder.java
@@ -381,7 +381,10 @@ private static int calculateDefaultIOThreads() {
         //it's hard to say what this number should be, but it is also obvious
         //that for constrained environments we don't want a lot of event loops
         //lets start with 10mb and adjust as needed
-        int recommended = ProcessorInfo.availableProcessors() * 2;
+        //We used to recommend a default of twice the number of cores,
+        //but more recent developments seem to suggest matching the number of cores 1:1
+        //being a more reasonable default. It also saves memory.
+        int recommended = ProcessorInfo.availableProcessors();
         long mem = Runtime.getRuntime().maxMemory();
         long memInMb = mem / (1024 * 1024);
         long maxAllowed = memInMb / 10;
diff --git a/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/config/VertxConfiguration.java b/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/config/VertxConfiguration.java
index 464b453c6d4711..375dbcf200228e 100644
--- a/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/config/VertxConfiguration.java
+++ b/extensions/vertx/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vertx/core/runtime/config/VertxConfiguration.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public class VertxConfiguration {
     public boolean classpathResolving;
 
     /**
-     * The number of event loops. 2 x the number of core by default.
+     * The number of event loops. By default, it matches the number of CPUs detected on the system.
      */
     @ConfigItem
     public OptionalInt eventLoopsPoolSize;