diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index 5dce6db36..c0e2bc4f8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: run tests
       timeout-minutes: 30
       run: >
-        pytest -nauto --timeout=300 --durations=100
+        pytest -n=logical --timeout=300 --durations=100
         --cov --cov-report=xml --cov-report=term
     - name: upload coverage report
       uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b17ea547c..42cb397ba 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ tests = [
     "pytest-mock",
     "pytest-test-utils",
     "pytest-timeout>=2",
-    "pytest-xdist>=3",
+    "pytest-xdist>=3.2",
     'pywin32>=225; sys_platform == "win32"', # optional test dependency
 ]
 webdav = ["dvc-webdav==2.19.1"]
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ known_first_party = ["dvc", "dvc_data", "dvc_objects", "dvc_render", "dvc_task",
 profile = "black"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
-addopts = "-ra --cov-config pyproject.toml"
+addopts = "-ra --cov-config pyproject.toml --dist worksteal"
 filterwarnings = [
     "error::pytest_mock.PytestMockWarning",
     # remove when aiobotocore supports botocore>=1.29.13
diff --git a/tests/__main__.py b/tests/__main__.py
index 79fbed045..17be5f8af 100644
--- a/tests/__main__.py
+++ b/tests/__main__.py
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     import pytest
 
-    sys.exit(pytest.main(["-v", "-n=auto", *sys.argv[1:]]))
+    sys.exit(pytest.main(["-v", "-n=logical", *sys.argv[1:]]))