# How to calculate cluster size based on number of clients and messages

**URL:** <https://community.hivemq.com/t/how-to-calculate-cluster-size-based-on-number-of-clients-and-messages/2004>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [April 21, 2023, 10:13am UTC](https://community.hivemq.com/t/how-to-calculate-cluster-size-based-on-number-of-clients-and-messages/2004 "2023-04-21T10:13:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Markiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Markiza](https://community.hivemq.com/u/Markiza)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 10:13am UTC](https://community.hivemq.com/t/how-to-calculate-cluster-size-based-on-number-of-clients-and-messages/2004/1 "2023-04-21T10:13:05Z")

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Is there any formula to calculate throughput of a listener?

I have 100 clients sending messages f size 5kB every 15 secs. What min requirements for broker do I need - num CPU, RAM?

What if I have 5000 such clients?

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**Author:** ![AaronTLFranz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.hivemq.com/aarontlfranz/32/638_2.png) [@AaronTLFranz](https://community.hivemq.com/u/AaronTLFranz)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.hivemq.com/t/how-to-calculate-cluster-size-based-on-number-of-clients-and-messages/2004/2 "2023-04-21T14:24:32Z")

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Hello @Markiza,

Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in HiveMQ!

Our recommendations are at least 4gb of RAM, and 4 available CPU cores, as well as at least 100gb of available storage. More information is available [here](https://docs.hivemq.com/hivemq/4.13/user-guide/system-requirements.html#minimum).

As for the hardware requirements based on the number of clients, it is more difficult to give a precise answer. As the messaging volume, size of messages, extension implementation, and other factors can all impact performance, it is best to perform testing using the HiveMQ Swarm tool, which will allow you to set up custom scenarios to test performance with a wide range of client configurations. More information on the HiveMQ Swarm tool is available [here](https://docs.hivemq.com/swarm/4.13/swarm/swarm-intro.html).

Best,  
Aaron from HiveMQ Team