diff --git a/.changeset/configurable-trace-span-limit.md b/.changeset/configurable-trace-span-limit.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bfca1b7931
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/configurable-trace-span-limit.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+'@hyperdx/app': minor
+'@hyperdx/api': minor
+'@hyperdx/common-utils': minor
+---
+
+Make the max spans per trace limit configurable via a team-level setting and an optional per-user preference. The team setting sets the ceiling (admin-configurable under ClickHouse Client Settings), and individual users can set a lower personal limit in Preferences. The current default of 50,000 spans is preserved for teams and users that don't change it.
diff --git a/packages/api/src/models/team.ts b/packages/api/src/models/team.ts
index 1954e0ac7a..24425f0108 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/models/team.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/models/team.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ export default mongoose.model<ITeam>(
       fieldMetadataDisabled: Boolean,
       parallelizeWhenPossible: Boolean,
       filterKeysFetchLimit: Number,
+      traceSpanLimit: Number,
     },
     {
       timestamps: true,
diff --git a/packages/app/src/UserPreferencesModal.tsx b/packages/app/src/UserPreferencesModal.tsx
index 578e784bbb..b09dcfc148 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/UserPreferencesModal.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/UserPreferencesModal.tsx
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ import * as React from 'react';
 import {
   Autocomplete,
   Badge,
+  Button,
   Divider,
   Group,
   Modal,
+  NumberInput,
   Select,
   Stack,
   Switch,
@@ -15,6 +17,8 @@ import { IconFlask } from '@tabler/icons-react';
 
 import { OPTIONS_FONTS } from './config/fonts';
 import { useAppTheme } from './theme/ThemeProvider';
+import api from './api';
+import { DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT } from './defaults';
 import { isValidThemeName, themes } from './theme';
 import { UserPreferences, useUserPreferences } from './useUserPreferences';
 
@@ -54,6 +58,54 @@ const SettingContainer = ({
   );
 };
 
+function TraceSpanLimitSetting() {
+  const { userPreferences, setUserPreference } = useUserPreferences();
+  const { data: me } = api.useMe();
+  const teamLimit = me?.team?.traceSpanLimit ?? DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT;
+
+  return (
+    <>
+      <Divider label="Performance" labelPosition="left" mt="sm" />
+      <SettingContainer
+        label="Trace span limit"
+        description={
+          <>
+            Maximum spans fetched per trace in the waterfall view. Capped by the
+            team limit ({teamLimit.toLocaleString()}).
+          </>
+        }
+      >
+        <Group gap="xs">
+          <NumberInput
+            value={userPreferences.traceSpanLimit ?? ''}
+            onChange={value =>
+              setUserPreference({
+                traceSpanLimit:
+                  value === '' || value === 0 ? undefined : Number(value),
+              })
+            }
+            placeholder={`${teamLimit.toLocaleString()} (team default)`}
+            min={1000}
+            max={teamLimit}
+            step={1000}
+            size="sm"
+            style={{ flex: 1 }}
+          />
+          {userPreferences.traceSpanLimit != null && (
+            <Button
+              variant="subtle"
+              size="xs"
+              onClick={() => setUserPreference({ traceSpanLimit: undefined })}
+            >
+              Reset
+            </Button>
+          )}
+        </Group>
+      </SettingContainer>
+    </>
+  );
+}
+
 export const UserPreferencesModal = ({
   opened,
   onClose,
@@ -202,6 +254,8 @@ export const UserPreferencesModal = ({
             />
           </SettingContainer>
         )}
+
+        <TraceSpanLimitSetting />
       </Stack>
     </Modal>
   );
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/DBTraceWaterfallChart.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/DBTraceWaterfallChart.tsx
index 77275c47e8..81a38d3c2a 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/DBTraceWaterfallChart.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/DBTraceWaterfallChart.tsx
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import {
   IconLogs,
 } from '@tabler/icons-react';
 
+import api from '@/api';
 import { ContactSupportText } from '@/components/ContactSupportText';
 import { ErrorCollapse } from '@/components/Error/ErrorCollapse';
 import SearchWhereInput, {
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ import {
   TimelineMinimap,
   type TimelineViewportController,
 } from '@/components/TimelineChart';
+import { DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT } from '@/defaults';
 import useOffsetPaginatedQuery from '@/hooks/useOffsetPaginatedQuery';
 import useRowWhere, { WithClause } from '@/hooks/useRowWhere';
 import useWaterfallSearchState from '@/hooks/useWaterfallSearchState';
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ import {
   getSpanEventBody,
 } from '@/source';
 import { useFormatTime } from '@/useFormatTime';
+import { useUserPreferences } from '@/useUserPreferences';
 import {
   CATEGORICAL_PALETTE_TOKENS,
   COLORS,
@@ -161,6 +164,7 @@ function getConfig(
   traceId: string,
   hiddenRowExpression?: string,
   hiddenRowExpressionLanguage: 'lucene' | 'sql' = 'lucene',
+  spanLimit: number = DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT,
 ) {
   const alias: Record<string, string> = {
     Body: getTableBody(source),
@@ -302,7 +306,7 @@ function getConfig(
     from: source.from,
     timestampValueExpression: source.timestampValueExpression,
     where: `${alias.TraceId} = ${SqlString.escape(traceId)}`,
-    limit: { limit: 50000 },
+    limit: { limit: spanLimit },
     connection: source.connection,
   };
   return { config, alias, type: source.kind };
@@ -337,6 +341,7 @@ export function useEventsAroundFocus({
   enabled,
   hiddenRowExpression,
   hiddenRowExpressionLanguage = 'lucene',
+  spanLimit,
 }: {
   tableSource: TTraceSource | TLogSource;
   focusDate: Date;
@@ -346,6 +351,7 @@ export function useEventsAroundFocus({
   /** An expression (in `hiddenRowExpressionLanguage`) that identifies rows to be hidden. Hidden rows will be returned with a `__hdx_hidden: true` column. */
   hiddenRowExpression?: string;
   hiddenRowExpressionLanguage?: 'lucene' | 'sql';
+  spanLimit?: number;
 }) {
   const { config, alias, type } = useMemo(
     () =>
@@ -354,8 +360,15 @@ export function useEventsAroundFocus({
         traceId,
         hiddenRowExpression,
         hiddenRowExpressionLanguage,
+        spanLimit,
       ),
-    [tableSource, traceId, hiddenRowExpression, hiddenRowExpressionLanguage],
+    [
+      tableSource,
+      traceId,
+      hiddenRowExpression,
+      hiddenRowExpressionLanguage,
+      spanLimit,
+    ],
   );
 
   const {
@@ -594,6 +607,17 @@ export function DBTraceWaterfallChartContainer({
   controlsExtra?: ReactNode;
 }) {
   const formatTime = useFormatTime();
+  const { data: me } = api.useMe();
+  const { userPreferences } = useUserPreferences();
+
+  const effectiveSpanLimit = useMemo(() => {
+    const teamLimit = me?.team?.traceSpanLimit ?? DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT;
+    const userLimit = userPreferences.traceSpanLimit;
+    if (userLimit != null && userLimit > 0) {
+      return Math.min(userLimit, teamLimit);
+    }
+    return teamLimit;
+  }, [me?.team?.traceSpanLimit, userPreferences.traceSpanLimit]);
 
   const {
     traceWhere,
@@ -674,6 +698,7 @@ export function DBTraceWaterfallChartContainer({
     hiddenRowExpression: traceWhere ? `NOT (${traceWhere})` : undefined,
     hiddenRowExpressionLanguage: traceFilterLanguage,
     enabled: true,
+    spanLimit: effectiveSpanLimit,
   });
   const {
     rows: logRowsData,
@@ -691,6 +716,7 @@ export function DBTraceWaterfallChartContainer({
     hiddenRowExpression: logWhere ? `NOT (${logWhere})` : undefined,
     hiddenRowExpressionLanguage: logFilterLanguage,
     enabled: logTableSource ? true : false, // disable fire query if logSource is not exist
+    spanLimit: effectiveSpanLimit,
   });
 
   const isFetching = traceIsFetching || logIsFetching;
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/TeamSettings/TeamQueryConfigSection.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/TeamSettings/TeamQueryConfigSection.tsx
index e685112003..e46ebae2cc 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/TeamSettings/TeamQueryConfigSection.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/TeamSettings/TeamQueryConfigSection.tsx
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   DEFAULT_FILTER_KEYS_FETCH_LIMIT,
   DEFAULT_QUERY_TIMEOUT,
   DEFAULT_SEARCH_ROW_LIMIT,
+  DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT,
 } from '@/defaults';
 import { useBrandDisplayName } from '@/theme/ThemeProvider';
 
@@ -342,6 +343,18 @@ export default function TeamQueryConfigSection() {
             type="boolean"
             displayValue={value => (value ? 'Enabled' : 'Disabled')}
           />
+          <ClickhouseSettingForm
+            settingKey="traceSpanLimit"
+            label="Trace span limit"
+            tooltip="Maximum number of spans fetched per trace in the waterfall view. Higher values show more complete traces but may impact browser performance."
+            type="number"
+            defaultValue={DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT}
+            placeholder={`default = ${DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT.toLocaleString()}`}
+            min={1000}
+            max={500000}
+            displayValue={displayValueWithUnit('spans')}
+            description={`Team-wide ceiling for trace waterfall queries. Individual users can set a lower personal limit in Preferences. Default is ${DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT.toLocaleString()}.`}
+          />
         </Stack>
       </Card>
     </Box>
diff --git a/packages/app/src/components/__tests__/DBTraceWaterfallChart.test.tsx b/packages/app/src/components/__tests__/DBTraceWaterfallChart.test.tsx
index b689f9f87a..2efd9ca083 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/components/__tests__/DBTraceWaterfallChart.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/components/__tests__/DBTraceWaterfallChart.test.tsx
@@ -75,6 +75,21 @@ jest.mock('../DBRowDataPanel', () => ({
   getJSONColumnNames: jest.fn().mockReturnValue([]),
 }));
 
+jest.mock('@/api', () => ({
+  __esModule: true,
+  default: {
+    useMe: () => ({ data: { team: {} } }),
+  },
+}));
+
+jest.mock('@/useUserPreferences', () => ({
+  __esModule: true,
+  useUserPreferences: () => ({
+    userPreferences: {},
+    setUserPreference: jest.fn(),
+  }),
+}));
+
 // Lightweight stub: the real SearchWhereInput renders SearchInputV2, which
 // pulls in useMe()/metadata hooks that require a QueryClientProvider not present
 // in this harness. We only care that the right inputs render, so stub it to a
diff --git a/packages/app/src/defaults.ts b/packages/app/src/defaults.ts
index 5894d8b78d..1f27cb6d91 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/defaults.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/defaults.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ export const DEFAULT_SEARCH_ROW_LIMIT = 200;
 export const DEFAULT_QUERY_TIMEOUT = 60; // max_execution_time, seconds
 export const DEFAULT_FILTER_KEYS_FETCH_LIMIT = 100;
 export const DEFAULT_SERIES_LIMIT = 100;
+export const DEFAULT_TRACE_SPAN_LIMIT = 50000;
 
 // Default ceiling on distinct series the time-chart transform materializes,
 // across all config types, when a tile has no explicit `seriesLimit`.
diff --git a/packages/app/src/useUserPreferences.tsx b/packages/app/src/useUserPreferences.tsx
index 8d82240263..f44b21e501 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/useUserPreferences.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/useUserPreferences.tsx
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ export type UserPreferences = {
   colorMode: ColorModePreference;
   font: 'IBM Plex Mono' | 'Roboto Mono' | 'Inter' | 'Roboto';
   expandSidebarHeader?: boolean;
+  /** Per-user max spans per trace override (clamped to team ceiling at query time). */
+  traceSpanLimit?: number;
 };
 
 // Legacy type for migration
diff --git a/packages/common-utils/src/types.ts b/packages/common-utils/src/types.ts
index e171fa9d3e..67f3b6d9ac 100644
--- a/packages/common-utils/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/common-utils/src/types.ts
@@ -1719,6 +1719,7 @@ export const TeamClickHouseSettingsSchema = z.object({
   metadataMaxRowsToRead: z.number().optional(),
   parallelizeWhenPossible: z.boolean().optional(),
   filterKeysFetchLimit: z.number().optional(),
+  traceSpanLimit: z.number().optional(),
 });
 
 /** Accepts null to unset (reset to default) a setting. */
@@ -1729,6 +1730,7 @@ export const TeamClickHouseSettingsUpdateSchema = z.object({
   metadataMaxRowsToRead: z.number().nullish(),
   parallelizeWhenPossible: z.boolean().nullish(),
   filterKeysFetchLimit: z.number().nullish(),
+  traceSpanLimit: z.number().nullish(),
 });
 export type TeamClickHouseSettingsUpdate = z.infer<
   typeof TeamClickHouseSettingsUpdateSchema