diff --git a/docs/changelog/108860.yaml b/docs/changelog/108860.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..93aa8ce7c08ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/108860.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pr: 108860
+summary: "Apm-data: enable plugin by default"
+area: Data streams
+type: enhancement
+issues: []
diff --git a/modules/data-streams/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/datastreams/LogsDataStreamIT.java b/modules/data-streams/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/datastreams/LogsDataStreamIT.java
index 79d33a95c4709..c2a7a76ab751a 100644
--- a/modules/data-streams/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/datastreams/LogsDataStreamIT.java
+++ b/modules/data-streams/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/datastreams/LogsDataStreamIT.java
@@ -11,8 +11,16 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Request;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.ResponseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.RestClient;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.SecureString;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.cluster.ElasticsearchCluster;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.cluster.FeatureFlag;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.cluster.local.distribution.DistributionType;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.ESRestTestCase;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.ClassRule;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -27,7 +35,33 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
 
-public class LogsDataStreamIT extends DisabledSecurityDataStreamTestCase {
+public class LogsDataStreamIT extends ESRestTestCase {
+
+    @ClassRule
+    public static ElasticsearchCluster cluster = ElasticsearchCluster.local()
+        .distribution(DistributionType.DEFAULT)
+        .feature(FeatureFlag.FAILURE_STORE_ENABLED)
+        .setting("xpack.security.enabled", "false")
+        .setting("xpack.watcher.enabled", "false")
+        // Disable apm-data so the index templates it installs do not impact
+        // tests such as testIgnoreDynamicBeyondLimit.
+        .setting("xpack.apm_data.enabled", "false")
+        .build();
+
+    @Override
+    protected String getTestRestCluster() {
+        return cluster.getHttpAddresses();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected Settings restAdminSettings() {
+        if (super.restAdminSettings().keySet().contains(ThreadContext.PREFIX + ".Authorization")) {
+            return super.restAdminSettings();
+        } else {
+            String token = basicAuthHeaderValue("admin", new SecureString("admin-password".toCharArray()));
+            return Settings.builder().put(super.restAdminSettings()).put(ThreadContext.PREFIX + ".Authorization", token).build();
+        }
+    }
 
     private RestClient client;
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/apm-data/src/yamlRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/apmdata/APMYamlTestSuiteIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/apm-data/src/yamlRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/apmdata/APMYamlTestSuiteIT.java
index 1ed3892e2f8f4..82db91a8eedb3 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/apm-data/src/yamlRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/apmdata/APMYamlTestSuiteIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/apm-data/src/yamlRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/apmdata/APMYamlTestSuiteIT.java
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ public class APMYamlTestSuiteIT extends ESClientYamlSuiteTestCase {
         .module("x-pack-ilm")
         .module("x-pack-stack")
         .setting("ingest.geoip.downloader.enabled", "false")
-        .setting("xpack.apm_data.enabled", "true")
         .build();
 
     public APMYamlTestSuiteIT(@Name("yaml") ClientYamlTestCandidate testCandidate) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackSettings.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackSettings.java
index f10e7cf170bde..d33b2aecdab04 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackSettings.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackSettings.java
@@ -90,12 +90,8 @@ public Iterator<Setting<?>> settings() {
         Setting.Property.NodeScope
     );
 
-    /** Setting for enabling or disabling APM Data. Defaults to false. */
-    public static final Setting<Boolean> APM_DATA_ENABLED = Setting.boolSetting(
-        "xpack.apm_data.enabled",
-        false,
-        Setting.Property.NodeScope
-    );
+    /** Setting for enabling or disabling APM Data. Defaults to true. */
+    public static final Setting<Boolean> APM_DATA_ENABLED = Setting.boolSetting("xpack.apm_data.enabled", true, Setting.Property.NodeScope);
 
     /** Setting for enabling or disabling enterprise search. Defaults to true. */
     public static final Setting<Boolean> ENTERPRISE_SEARCH_ENABLED = Setting.boolSetting(
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/build.gradle
index 055561c747a63..eb1f9b9671bdc 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/qa/native-multi-node-tests/build.gradle
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ testClusters.configureEach {
   setting 'slm.history_index_enabled', 'false'
   setting 'stack.templates.enabled', 'false'
   setting 'xpack.ent_search.enabled', 'false'
+  setting 'xpack.apm_data.enabled', 'false'
   // To spice things up a bit, one of the nodes is not an ML node
   nodes.'javaRestTest-0'.setting 'node.roles', '["master","data","ingest"]'
   nodes.'javaRestTest-1'.setting 'node.roles', '["master","data","ingest","ml"]'