diff --git a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/server/Astra.java b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/server/Astra.java
index 90e6f011d1..c6c47c3f87 100644
--- a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/server/Astra.java
+++ b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/server/Astra.java
@@ -223,7 +223,10 @@ private static Set<Service> getServices(
               .withRequestTimeout(requestTimeout)
               .withTracing(astraConfig.getTracingConfig())
               .withAnnotatedService(new ElasticsearchApiService(astraDistributedQueryService))
-              .withAnnotatedService(new ZipkinService(astraDistributedQueryService))
+              .withAnnotatedService(
+                  new ZipkinService(
+                      astraDistributedQueryService,
+                      astraConfig.getQueryConfig().getZipkinDefaultMaxSpans()))
               .withGrpcService(astraDistributedQueryService)
               .build();
       services.add(armeriaService);
diff --git a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinService.java b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinService.java
index 05158e2d6f..0256dad8f9 100644
--- a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinService.java
+++ b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinService.java
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ protected static long convertToMicroSeconds(Instant instant) {
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ZipkinService.class);
   private static long LOOKBACK_MINS = 60 * 24 * 7;
 
-  private static final int MAX_SPANS = 20_000;
+  private final int defaultMaxSpans;
 
   private final AstraQueryServiceBase searcher;
 
@@ -160,8 +160,9 @@ protected static long convertToMicroSeconds(Instant instant) {
           .serializationInclusion(JsonInclude.Include.NON_EMPTY)
           .build();
 
-  public ZipkinService(AstraQueryServiceBase searcher) {
+  public ZipkinService(AstraQueryServiceBase searcher, int defaultMaxSpans) {
     this.searcher = searcher;
+    this.defaultMaxSpans = defaultMaxSpans;
   }
 
   @Get
@@ -216,7 +217,7 @@ public HttpResponse getTraceByTraceId(
     long endTime =
         endTimeEpochMs.orElseGet(
             () -> Instant.now().plus(LOOKBACK_MINS, ChronoUnit.MINUTES).toEpochMilli());
-    int howMany = maxSpans.orElse(MAX_SPANS);
+    int howMany = maxSpans.orElse(this.defaultMaxSpans);
 
     brave.Span span = Tracing.currentTracer().currentSpan();
     span.tag("startTimeEpochMs", String.valueOf(startTime));
diff --git a/astra/src/main/proto/astra_configs.proto b/astra/src/main/proto/astra_configs.proto
index d00b42a1be..605122f971 100644
--- a/astra/src/main/proto/astra_configs.proto
+++ b/astra/src/main/proto/astra_configs.proto
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ message QueryServiceConfig {
   ServerConfig server_config = 1;
   int32 default_query_timeout_ms = 2;
   string managerConnectString = 3;
+  int32 zipkin_default_max_spans = 4;
 }
 
 enum KafkaOffsetLocation {
diff --git a/astra/src/test/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinServiceTest.java b/astra/src/test/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinServiceTest.java
index 9154d28a7f..ee2240ae03 100644
--- a/astra/src/test/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinServiceTest.java
+++ b/astra/src/test/java/com/slack/astra/zipkinApi/ZipkinServiceTest.java
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public class ZipkinServiceTest {
   @BeforeEach
   public void setup() throws IOException {
     MockitoAnnotations.openMocks(this);
-    zipkinService = spy(new ZipkinService(searcher));
+    zipkinService = spy(new ZipkinService(searcher, 20000));
     // Build mockSearchResult
     ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
     JsonNode jsonNode =
diff --git a/config/config.yaml b/config/config.yaml
index f2c9fb3a0a..310bd85065 100644
--- a/config/config.yaml
+++ b/config/config.yaml
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ queryConfig:
     serverAddress: ${ASTRA_QUERY_SERVER_ADDRESS:-localhost}
     requestTimeoutMs: ${ASTRA_QUERY_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS:-5000}
   defaultQueryTimeoutMs: ${ASTRA_QUERY_DEFAULT_QUERY_TIMEOUT_MS:-3000}
+  zipkinDefaultMaxSpans: ${ASTRA_QUERY_ZIPKIN_DEFAULT_MAX_SPANS:-20000}
   managerConnectString: ${ASTRA_MANAGER_CONNECTION_STRING:-localhost:8083}
 
 metadataStoreConfig: