diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/flags.go b/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
index e13ff923e6..c2e6cbff4c 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ func Flags() (*Config, support.ConfigOptions) {
 		&support.ConfigOption{
 			Name:        CaptiveCoreConfigUseDB,
 			OptType:     types.Bool,
-			FlagDefault: false,
+			FlagDefault: true,
 			Required:    false,
 			Usage: `when enabled, Horizon ingestion will instruct the captive
 			              core invocation to use an external db url for ledger states rather than in memory(RAM).\n 
@@ -736,9 +736,6 @@ func ApplyFlags(config *Config, flags support.ConfigOptions, options ApplyOption
 		if config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL != "" {
 			return fmt.Errorf("Invalid config: --%s passed but --ingest not set. ", StellarCoreDBURLFlagName)
 		}
-		if config.CaptiveCoreConfigUseDB {
-			return fmt.Errorf("Invalid config: --%s has been set, but --ingest not set. ", CaptiveCoreConfigUseDB)
-		}
 	}
 
 	// Configure log file