diff --git a/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs b/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
index 24474d4840..896a5d8069 100644
--- a/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
+++ b/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ pub struct ConfigToml {
     pub ingest_batch_size: u64,
     pub max_vectored_read_bytes: MaxVectoredReadBytes,
     pub image_compression: ImageCompressionAlgorithm,
+    pub timeline_offloading: bool,
     pub ephemeral_bytes_per_memory_kb: usize,
     pub l0_flush: Option<crate::models::L0FlushConfig>,
     pub virtual_file_io_mode: Option<crate::models::virtual_file::IoMode>,
@@ -385,6 +386,7 @@ impl Default for ConfigToml {
                 NonZeroUsize::new(DEFAULT_MAX_VECTORED_READ_BYTES).unwrap(),
             )),
             image_compression: (DEFAULT_IMAGE_COMPRESSION),
+            timeline_offloading: false,
             ephemeral_bytes_per_memory_kb: (DEFAULT_EPHEMERAL_BYTES_PER_MEMORY_KB),
             l0_flush: None,
             virtual_file_io_mode: None,
diff --git a/pageserver/src/config.rs b/pageserver/src/config.rs
index 8db78285e4..06d4326459 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/config.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/config.rs
@@ -164,6 +164,9 @@ pub struct PageServerConf {
 
     pub image_compression: ImageCompressionAlgorithm,
 
+    /// Whether to offload archived timelines automatically
+    pub timeline_offloading: bool,
+
     /// How many bytes of ephemeral layer content will we allow per kilobyte of RAM.  When this
     /// is exceeded, we start proactively closing ephemeral layers to limit the total amount
     /// of ephemeral data.
@@ -321,6 +324,7 @@ impl PageServerConf {
             ingest_batch_size,
             max_vectored_read_bytes,
             image_compression,
+            timeline_offloading,
             ephemeral_bytes_per_memory_kb,
             l0_flush,
             virtual_file_io_mode,
@@ -364,6 +368,7 @@ impl PageServerConf {
             ingest_batch_size,
             max_vectored_read_bytes,
             image_compression,
+            timeline_offloading,
             ephemeral_bytes_per_memory_kb,
 
             // ------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index 689982ddd4..baa2365658 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -2187,7 +2187,8 @@ impl Tenant {
                             .iter()
                             .any(|(_id, tl)| tl.get_ancestor_timeline_id() == Some(*timeline_id))
                     };
-                    let can_offload = can_offload && has_no_unoffloaded_children;
+                    let can_offload =
+                        can_offload && has_no_unoffloaded_children && self.conf.timeline_offloading;
                     if (is_active, can_offload) == (false, false) {
                         None
                     } else {
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index 1992dee930..2b4f949c76 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -1565,6 +1565,7 @@ impl Timeline {
     }
 
     /// Checks if the internal state of the timeline is consistent with it being able to be offloaded.
+    ///
     /// This is neccessary but not sufficient for offloading of the timeline as it might have
     /// child timelines that are not offloaded yet.
     pub(crate) fn can_offload(&self) -> bool {
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_archive.py b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_archive.py
index ffaed5e130..85e1077fd5 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_archive.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_archive.py
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ def test_timeline_archive(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, shard_count: int):
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("manual_offload", [False, True])
 def test_timeline_offloading(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, manual_offload: bool):
+    if not manual_offload:
+        # (automatic) timeline offloading defaults to false for now
+        neon_env_builder.pageserver_config_override = "timeline_offloading = true"
+
     env = neon_env_builder.init_start()
     ps_http = env.pageserver.http_client()