diff --git a/agent/config/builder.go b/agent/config/builder.go
index 1238670ea1..dd93478346 100644
--- a/agent/config/builder.go
+++ b/agent/config/builder.go
@@ -1102,7 +1102,7 @@ func (b *builder) Build() (rt RuntimeConfig, err error) {
 		Watches:                     c.Watches,
 	}
 
-	rt.UseStreamingBackend = boolVal(c.UseStreamingBackend)
+	rt.UseStreamingBackend = boolValWithDefault(c.UseStreamingBackend, true)
 
 	if rt.Cache.EntryFetchMaxBurst <= 0 {
 		return RuntimeConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("cache.entry_fetch_max_burst must be strictly positive, was: %v", rt.Cache.EntryFetchMaxBurst)
diff --git a/website/content/docs/agent/options.mdx b/website/content/docs/agent/options.mdx
index 87bee30610..2f72ebd7c6 100644
--- a/website/content/docs/agent/options.mdx
+++ b/website/content/docs/agent/options.mdx
@@ -2208,14 +2208,10 @@ bind_addr = "{{ GetPrivateInterfaces | include \"network\" \"10.0.0.0/8\" | attr
     currently only supports numeric IDs.
   - `mode` - The permission bits to set on the file.
 
-- `use_streaming_backend` (experimental) when enabled Consul client agents will use
+- `use_streaming_backend` defaults to true. When enabled Consul client agents will use
   streaming rpc, instead of the traditional blocking queries, for endpoints which support
   streaming. All servers must have [`rpc.enable_streaming`](#rpc_enable_streaming)
   enabled before any client can enable `use_streaming_backend`.
-  At least one of [`dns_config.use_cache`](#dns_use_cache) or
-  [`http_config.use_cache`](#http_config_use_cache) must be enabled, otherwise
-  this setting has no effect.
-  `use_streaming_backend` will default to true in a future version of Consul.
 
 - `verify_incoming` - If set to true, Consul
   requires that all incoming connections make use of TLS and that the client