diff --git a/scripts/modules/elastic_stack.py b/scripts/modules/elastic_stack.py
index a9b8ed417..ed20b4c34 100644
--- a/scripts/modules/elastic_stack.py
+++ b/scripts/modules/elastic_stack.py
@@ -52,8 +52,13 @@ def __init__(self, **options):
             ("monitoring.elasticsearch" if self.at_least_version("7.2") else "xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch", "true"),
             ("monitoring.enabled" if self.at_least_version("7.2") else "xpack.monitoring.enabled", "true")
         ])
-        if options.get("apm_server_self_instrument"):
+        if options.get("apm_server_self_instrument", True):
             self.apm_server_command_args.append(("apm-server.instrumentation.enabled", "true"))
+            if self.at_least_version("7.6") and options.get("apm_server_profile", True):
+                self.apm_server_command_args.extend([
+                    ("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.cpu.enabled", "true"),
+                    ("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.heap.enabled", "true"),
+                ])
         self.depends_on = {"elasticsearch": {"condition": "service_healthy"}} if options.get(
             "enable_elasticsearch", True) else {}
         self.build = self.options.get("apm_server_build")
@@ -237,6 +242,11 @@ def add_arguments(cls, parser):
             dest="apm_server_self_instrument",
             help='disable apm-server self instrumentation.'
         )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--no-apm-server-profile",
+            action="store_false",
+            help='disable apm-server self instrumentation profiling.'
+        )
         parser.add_argument(
             '--apm-server-count',
             type=int,
diff --git a/scripts/tests/service_tests.py b/scripts/tests/service_tests.py
index 28fb60008..2c867494b 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/service_tests.py
+++ b/scripts/tests/service_tests.py
@@ -588,6 +588,29 @@ def test_queue_mem(self):
             "no queue settings with memory queue (for now)"
         )
 
+    def test_self_instrument(self):
+        # self instrumentation comes with profiling by default
+        apm_server = ApmServer(version="8.0.0").render()["apm-server"]
+        self.assertIn("apm-server.instrumentation.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+        self.assertIn("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.cpu.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+        self.assertIn("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.heap.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+
+        # self instrumentation comes with profiling by default but can be disabled
+        apm_server = ApmServer(
+            version="8.0.0", apm_server_self_instrument=True, apm_server_profile=False).render()["apm-server"]
+        self.assertIn("apm-server.instrumentation.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+        self.assertFalse(
+            any(e.startswith("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling") for e in apm_server["command"]),
+            "no self profiling settings expected"
+        )
+
+        # need self instrumentation enabled to get profiling
+        apm_server = ApmServer(
+            version="8.0.0", apm_server_self_instrument=False, apm_server_profile=True).render()["apm-server"]
+        self.assertNotIn("apm-server.instrumentation.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+        self.assertNotIn("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.cpu.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+        self.assertNotIn("apm-server.instrumentation.profiling.heap.enabled=true", apm_server["command"])
+
     def test_apm_server_build_branch(self):
         apm_server = ApmServer(version="6.3.100", apm_server_build="foo.git@bar", release=True).render()["apm-server"]
         self.assertIsNone(apm_server.get("image"))