diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/account/AccountIndexerImpl.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/account/AccountIndexerImpl.java
index 2d742c6bef..b0527e197b 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/account/AccountIndexerImpl.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/account/AccountIndexerImpl.java
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public class AccountIndexerImpl implements AccountIndexer {
   }
 
   private static boolean autoReindexIfStale(Config cfg) {
-    return cfg.getBoolean("index", null, "autoReindexIfStale", true);
+    return cfg.getBoolean("index", null, "autoReindexIfStale", false);
   }
 
   private void autoReindexIfStale(Account.Id id) {