diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7b6d96a8e93c3..ce185695c8642 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 * [4498](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/4498) **trevorwhitney**: Feature: add virtual read and write targets
 * [4543](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/4543) **trevorwhitney**: Change more default values and improve application of common storage config
 * [4570](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/4570) **DylanGuedes**: Loki: Append loopback to ingester net interface default list
+* [4594](https://github.com/grafana/loki/pull/4594) **owen-d**: Configures unordered_writes=true by default
 
 # 2.3.0 (2021/08/06)
 
diff --git a/docs/sources/configuration/_index.md b/docs/sources/configuration/_index.md
index ef34a76ec0c48..6c142d77a2f18 100644
--- a/docs/sources/configuration/_index.md
+++ b/docs/sources/configuration/_index.md
@@ -2019,7 +2019,7 @@ logs in Loki.
 
 # When true, out-of-order writes are accepted.
 # CLI flag: -ingester.unordered-writes
-[unordered_writes: <bool> | default = false]
+[unordered_writes: <bool> | default = true]
 
 # Maximum number of chunks that can be fetched by a single query.
 # CLI flag: -store.query-chunk-limit
@@ -2379,18 +2379,18 @@ multi_kv_config:
 Since the beginning of Loki, log entries had to be written to Loki in order
 by time.
 This limitation has been lifted.
-Out-of-order writes may be enabled globally for a Loki cluster
-or enabled on a per-tenant basis.
+Out-of-order writes are enabled globally by default, but can be disabled/enabled
+on a cluster or per-tenant basis.
 
-- To enable out-of-order writes for all tenants,
+- To disable out-of-order writes for all tenants,
 place in the `limits_config` section:
 
     ```
     limits_config:
-        unordered_writes: true
+        unordered_writes: false
     ```
 
-- To enable out-of-order writes for specific tenants,
+- To disable out-of-order writes for specific tenants,
 configure a runtime configuration file:
 
     ```
@@ -2403,7 +2403,7 @@ configure a runtime configuration file:
     ```
     overrides:
       "tenantA":
-        unordered_writes: true
+        unordered_writes: false
     ```
 
 How far into the past accepted out-of-order log entries may be
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/transfer_test.go b/pkg/ingester/transfer_test.go
index 384716482f274..e5feb2ed9d028 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/transfer_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/transfer_test.go
@@ -58,24 +58,6 @@ func TestTransferOut(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Len(t, ing.instances["test"].streams, 2)
 	}
 
-	// verify we get out of order exception on adding an entry with older timestamps
-	_, err2 := ing.Push(ctx, &logproto.PushRequest{
-		Streams: []logproto.Stream{
-			{
-				Entries: []logproto.Entry{
-					{Line: "line 4", Timestamp: time.Unix(2, 0)},
-					{Line: "ooo", Timestamp: time.Unix(0, 0)},
-					{Line: "line 5", Timestamp: time.Unix(3, 0)},
-				},
-				Labels: `{foo="bar",bar="baz1"}`,
-			},
-		},
-	})
-
-	require.Error(t, err2)
-	require.Contains(t, err2.Error(), "out of order")
-	require.Contains(t, err2.Error(), "total ignored: 1 out of 3")
-
 	// Create a new ingester and transfer data to it
 	ing2 := f.getIngester(time.Second*60, t)
 	defer services.StopAndAwaitTerminated(context.Background(), ing2) //nolint:errcheck
@@ -112,7 +94,7 @@ func TestTransferOut(t *testing.T) {
 
 		assert.Equal(
 			t,
-			[]string{"line 0", "line 1", "line 2", "line 3", "line 4", "line 5"},
+			[]string{"line 0", "line 1", "line 2", "line 3"},
 			lines,
 		)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/validation/limits.go b/pkg/validation/limits.go
index b5817c3f39294..3e9798e1052e3 100644
--- a/pkg/validation/limits.go
+++ b/pkg/validation/limits.go
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ func (l *Limits) RegisterFlags(f *flag.FlagSet) {
 
 	f.IntVar(&l.MaxLocalStreamsPerUser, "ingester.max-streams-per-user", 0, "Maximum number of active streams per user, per ingester. 0 to disable.")
 	f.IntVar(&l.MaxGlobalStreamsPerUser, "ingester.max-global-streams-per-user", 5000, "Maximum number of active streams per user, across the cluster. 0 to disable.")
-	f.BoolVar(&l.UnorderedWrites, "ingester.unordered-writes", false, "(Experimental) Allow out of order writes.")
+	f.BoolVar(&l.UnorderedWrites, "ingester.unordered-writes", true, "Allow out of order writes.")
 
 	_ = l.PerStreamRateLimit.Set(strconv.Itoa(defaultPerStreamRateLimit))
 	f.Var(&l.PerStreamRateLimit, "ingester.per-stream-rate-limit", "Maximum byte rate per second per stream, also expressible in human readable forms (1MB, 256KB, etc).")