diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/__init__.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/__init__.py
index c4a54088d..36749deb3 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/__init__.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """__init__."""
 import faulthandler
 import os
+import sys
 from typing import Any
 
 import connexion  # type: ignore
@@ -207,25 +208,31 @@ def configure_sentry(app: flask.app.Flask) -> None:
             "SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE is not set somehow"
         )
 
-    # profiling doesn't work on windows, because of an issue like https://github.com/nvdv/vprof/issues/62
-    # but also we commented out profiling because it was causing segfaults (i guess it is marked experimental)
-    # profiles_sample_rate = 0 if sys.platform.startswith("win") else 1
-
-    sentry_sdk.init(
-        dsn=app.config.get("SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_DSN"),
-        integrations=[
+    sentry_configs = {
+        "dsn": app.config.get("SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_DSN"),
+        "integrations": [
             FlaskIntegration(),
         ],
-        environment=app.config["ENV_IDENTIFIER"],
+        "environment": app.config["ENV_IDENTIFIER"],
         # sample_rate is the errors sample rate. we usually set it to 1 (100%)
         # so we get all errors in sentry.
-        sample_rate=float(sentry_errors_sample_rate),
+        "sample_rate": float(sentry_errors_sample_rate),
         # Set traces_sample_rate to capture a certain percentage
         # of transactions for performance monitoring.
         # We recommend adjusting this value to less than 1(00%) in production.
-        traces_sample_rate=float(sentry_traces_sample_rate),
-        traces_sampler=traces_sampler,
+        "traces_sample_rate": float(sentry_traces_sample_rate),
+        "traces_sampler": traces_sampler,
         # The profiles_sample_rate setting is relative to the traces_sample_rate setting.
-        # _experiments={"profiles_sample_rate": profiles_sample_rate},
-        before_send=before_send,
-    )
+        "before_send": before_send,
+    }
+
+    if app.config.get("SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_PROFILING_ENABLED"):
+        # profiling doesn't work on windows, because of an issue like https://github.com/nvdv/vprof/issues/62
+        # but also we commented out profiling because it was causing segfaults (i guess it is marked experimental)
+        profiles_sample_rate = 0 if sys.platform.startswith("win") else 1
+        if profiles_sample_rate > 0:
+            sentry_configs["_experiments"] = {
+                "profiles_sample_rate": profiles_sample_rate
+            }
+
+    sentry_sdk.init(**sentry_configs)
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/config/default.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/config/default.py
index 8bb0c1919..fa9ad7a0b 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/config/default.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/config/default.py
@@ -79,6 +79,10 @@ SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_ORGANIZATION_SLUG = environ.get(
 SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_PROJECT_SLUG = environ.get(
     "SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_PROJECT_SLUG", default=None
 )
+SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_PROFILING_ENABLED = (
+    environ.get("SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_SENTRY_PROFILING_ENABLED", default="false")
+    == "true"
+)
 
 SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_LOG_LEVEL = environ.get(
     "SPIFFWORKFLOW_BACKEND_LOG_LEVEL", default="info"