The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for allocating bonding engines among bonding groups. In one exemplary embodiment, a provision module is configured to allocate bonding engines. When selecting a bonding engine for a new bonding group, the provision module only considers bonding engines residing on access modules that terminate at least one of the communication links of the bonding group. Out of the bonding engines residing on access modules terminating at least one communication link of the bonding group, the provision module selects a bonding engine servicing the least number of external links and assigns the selected bonding engine to the bonding group. The provision module also provisions the access modules terminating the communication links of the bonding group such that the selected bonding engine bonds such communication links during operation.