diff --git a/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs b/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
index 8df0a714ec6a..db54965eb525 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/pageserver.rs
@@ -403,6 +403,11 @@ impl PageServerNode {
             lsn_lease_length_for_ts: settings
                 .remove("lsn_lease_length_for_ts")
                 .map(|x| x.to_string()),
+            timeline_offloading: settings
+                .remove("timeline_offloading")
+                .map(|x| x.parse::<bool>())
+                .transpose()
+                .context("Failed to parse 'timeline_offloading' as bool")?,
         };
         if !settings.is_empty() {
             bail!("Unrecognized tenant settings: {settings:?}")
@@ -498,6 +503,11 @@ impl PageServerNode {
                 lsn_lease_length_for_ts: settings
                     .remove("lsn_lease_length_for_ts")
                     .map(|x| x.to_string()),
+                timeline_offloading: settings
+                    .remove("timeline_offloading")
+                    .map(|x| x.parse::<bool>())
+                    .transpose()
+                    .context("Failed to parse 'timeline_offloading' as bool")?,
             }
         };
 
diff --git a/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs b/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
index 6b2d6cf62568..00cc426c3c3f 100644
--- a/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
+++ b/libs/pageserver_api/src/config.rs
@@ -259,6 +259,10 @@ pub struct TenantConfigToml {
     /// Layers needed to reconstruct pages at LSN will not be GC-ed during this interval.
     #[serde(with = "humantime_serde")]
     pub lsn_lease_length_for_ts: Duration,
+
+    /// Enable auto-offloading of timelines.
+    /// (either this flag or the pageserver-global one need to be set)
+    pub timeline_offloading: bool,
 }
 
 pub mod defaults {
@@ -471,6 +475,7 @@ impl Default for TenantConfigToml {
             image_layer_creation_check_threshold: DEFAULT_IMAGE_LAYER_CREATION_CHECK_THRESHOLD,
             lsn_lease_length: LsnLease::DEFAULT_LENGTH,
             lsn_lease_length_for_ts: LsnLease::DEFAULT_LENGTH_FOR_TS,
+            timeline_offloading: false,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/libs/pageserver_api/src/models.rs b/libs/pageserver_api/src/models.rs
index 0a4992aea42e..0dfa1ba817ca 100644
--- a/libs/pageserver_api/src/models.rs
+++ b/libs/pageserver_api/src/models.rs
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ pub struct TenantConfig {
     pub image_layer_creation_check_threshold: Option<u8>,
     pub lsn_lease_length: Option<String>,
     pub lsn_lease_length_for_ts: Option<String>,
+    pub timeline_offloading: Option<bool>,
 }
 
 /// The policy for the aux file storage.
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index 68f8f7e13c72..d45c99a41b24 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -2499,8 +2499,15 @@ impl Tenant {
                             .iter()
                             .any(|(_id, tl)| tl.get_ancestor_timeline_id() == Some(*timeline_id))
                     };
+                    let config_allows_offload = self.conf.timeline_offloading
+                        || self
+                            .tenant_conf
+                            .load()
+                            .tenant_conf
+                            .timeline_offloading
+                            .unwrap_or_default();
                     let can_offload =
-                        can_offload && has_no_unoffloaded_children && self.conf.timeline_offloading;
+                        can_offload && has_no_unoffloaded_children && config_allows_offload;
                     if (is_active, can_offload) == (false, false) {
                         None
                     } else {
@@ -4902,6 +4909,7 @@ pub(crate) mod harness {
                 ),
                 lsn_lease_length: Some(tenant_conf.lsn_lease_length),
                 lsn_lease_length_for_ts: Some(tenant_conf.lsn_lease_length_for_ts),
+                timeline_offloading: Some(tenant_conf.timeline_offloading),
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/config.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/config.rs
index ce686c89ef61..4d6176bfd9d3 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/config.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/config.rs
@@ -349,6 +349,10 @@ pub struct TenantConfOpt {
     #[serde(with = "humantime_serde")]
     #[serde(default)]
     pub lsn_lease_length_for_ts: Option<Duration>,
+
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub timeline_offloading: Option<bool>,
 }
 
 impl TenantConfOpt {
@@ -411,6 +415,9 @@ impl TenantConfOpt {
             lsn_lease_length_for_ts: self
                 .lsn_lease_length_for_ts
                 .unwrap_or(global_conf.lsn_lease_length_for_ts),
+            timeline_offloading: self
+                .lazy_slru_download
+                .unwrap_or(global_conf.timeline_offloading),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -464,6 +471,7 @@ impl From<TenantConfOpt> for models::TenantConfig {
             image_layer_creation_check_threshold: value.image_layer_creation_check_threshold,
             lsn_lease_length: value.lsn_lease_length.map(humantime),
             lsn_lease_length_for_ts: value.lsn_lease_length_for_ts.map(humantime),
+            timeline_offloading: value.timeline_offloading,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_attach_tenant_config.py b/test_runner/regress/test_attach_tenant_config.py
index 64de7626f419..7d19ba3b5d7e 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_attach_tenant_config.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_attach_tenant_config.py
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ def test_fully_custom_config(positive_env: NeonEnv):
         "image_layer_creation_check_threshold": 1,
         "lsn_lease_length": "1m",
         "lsn_lease_length_for_ts": "5s",
+        "timeline_offloading": True,
     }
 
     vps_http = env.storage_controller.pageserver_api()