diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/index.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/index.ts
index 2efa13a0bbc8d..0107997f233fe 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/index.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ export const apm: LegacyPluginInitializer = kibana => {
         autocreateApmIndexPattern: Joi.boolean().default(true),
 
         // service map
-        serviceMapEnabled: Joi.boolean().default(false)
+        serviceMapEnabled: Joi.boolean().default(true)
       }).default();
     },
 
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/__snapshots__/Home.test.tsx.snap b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/__snapshots__/Home.test.tsx.snap
index d5764001a7f18..88d9d7864576f 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/__snapshots__/Home.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/__snapshots__/Home.test.tsx.snap
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ exports[`Home component should render services 1`] = `
     Object {
       "config": Object {
         "indexPatternTitle": "apm-*",
-        "serviceMapEnabled": false,
+        "serviceMapEnabled": true,
         "ui": Object {
           "enabled": false,
         },
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ exports[`Home component should render traces 1`] = `
     Object {
       "config": Object {
         "indexPatternTitle": "apm-*",
-        "serviceMapEnabled": false,
+        "serviceMapEnabled": true,
         "ui": Object {
           "enabled": false,
         },
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/index.tsx b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/index.tsx
index 5f8fa8bf5dc07..07d7ce1e5b48c 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/index.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/components/app/Home/index.tsx
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import { ServiceOverview } from '../ServiceOverview';
 import { TraceOverview } from '../TraceOverview';
 
 function getHomeTabs({
-  serviceMapEnabled = false
+  serviceMapEnabled = true
 }: {
   serviceMapEnabled: boolean;
 }) {
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/utils/testHelpers.tsx b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/utils/testHelpers.tsx
index 4ee45f7b3330b..6bcfbc4541b64 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/utils/testHelpers.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/apm/public/utils/testHelpers.tsx
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ const mockCore = {
 
 const mockConfig: ConfigSchema = {
   indexPatternTitle: 'apm-*',
-  serviceMapEnabled: false,
+  serviceMapEnabled: true,
   ui: {
     enabled: false
   }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/server/index.ts b/x-pack/plugins/apm/server/index.ts
index ebd954015c910..94cc5cecb54b1 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/server/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/server/index.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export const config = {
   },
   schema: schema.object({
     enabled: schema.boolean({ defaultValue: true }),
-    serviceMapEnabled: schema.boolean({ defaultValue: false }),
+    serviceMapEnabled: schema.boolean({ defaultValue: true }),
     autocreateApmIndexPattern: schema.boolean({ defaultValue: true }),
     ui: schema.object({
       enabled: schema.boolean({ defaultValue: true }),