diff --git a/nova/service.py b/nova/service.py
index e5137abf0afe..ee79735bf008 100644
--- a/nova/service.py
+++ b/nova/service.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ service_opts = [
                     ' periodic task scheduler to reduce stampeding.'
                     ' (Disable by setting to 0)'),
     cfg.ListOpt('enabled_apis',
-                default=['ec2', 'osapi_compute', 'metadata'],
+                default=['osapi_compute', 'metadata'],
                 help='A list of APIs to enable by default'),
     cfg.ListOpt('enabled_ssl_apis',
                 default=[],
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/disable_ec2_api_by_default-0ec0946433fc7119.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/disable_ec2_api_by_default-0ec0946433fc7119.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cc67cd318c9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/disable_ec2_api_by_default-0ec0946433fc7119.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - As of Kilo the in tree EC2 API is marked as deprecated.
+    The in tree EC2 API is now disabled by default. You have
+    to add ``ec2`` to the ``enabled_apis`` configuration parameter
+    if you stil want to use it.