diff --git a/db/commitlog/commitlog.cc b/db/commitlog/commitlog.cc
index 1bbb7b1050..559f3345b4 100644
--- a/db/commitlog/commitlog.cc
+++ b/db/commitlog/commitlog.cc
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ db::commitlog::config db::commitlog::config::from_db_config(const db::config& cf
     c.extensions = &cfg.extensions();
     c.reuse_segments = cfg.commitlog_reuse_segments();
     c.use_o_dsync = cfg.commitlog_use_o_dsync();
+    c.allow_going_over_size_limit = !cfg.commitlog_use_hard_size_limit();
 
     return c;
 }
diff --git a/db/commitlog/commitlog.hh b/db/commitlog/commitlog.hh
index f309d2d371..fba4932898 100644
--- a/db/commitlog/commitlog.hh
+++ b/db/commitlog/commitlog.hh
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ public:
         bool reuse_segments = true;
         bool use_o_dsync = false;
         bool warn_about_segments_left_on_disk_after_shutdown = true;
-        bool allow_going_over_size_limit = false;
+        bool allow_going_over_size_limit = true;
 
         const db::extensions * extensions = nullptr;
     };
diff --git a/db/config.cc b/db/config.cc
index 30704b1f0b..87a652deb1 100644
--- a/db/config.cc
+++ b/db/config.cc
@@ -371,6 +371,8 @@ db::config::config(std::shared_ptr<db::extensions> exts)
         "Whether or not to re-use commitlog segments when finished instead of deleting them. Can improve commitlog latency on some file systems.\n")
     , commitlog_use_o_dsync(this, "commitlog_use_o_dsync", value_status::Used, true,
         "Whether or not to use O_DSYNC mode for commitlog segments IO. Can improve commitlog latency on some file systems.\n")
+    , commitlog_use_hard_size_limit(this, "commitlog_use_hard_size_limit", value_status::Used, false,
+        "Whether or not to use a hard size limit for commitlog disk usage. Default is false. Enabling this can cause latency spikes, whereas the default can lead to occasional disk usage peaks.\n")
     /* Compaction settings */
     /* Related information: Configuring compaction */
     , compaction_preheat_key_cache(this, "compaction_preheat_key_cache", value_status::Unused, true,
diff --git a/db/config.hh b/db/config.hh
index c9df160fe5..b78ca933cd 100644
--- a/db/config.hh
+++ b/db/config.hh
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ public:
     named_value<int64_t> commitlog_total_space_in_mb;
     named_value<bool> commitlog_reuse_segments;
     named_value<bool> commitlog_use_o_dsync;
+    named_value<bool> commitlog_use_hard_size_limit;
     named_value<bool> compaction_preheat_key_cache;
     named_value<uint32_t> concurrent_compactors;
     named_value<uint32_t> in_memory_compaction_limit_in_mb;