diff --git a/sentry_sdk/integrations/django/__init__.py b/sentry_sdk/integrations/django/__init__.py
index 5a808a53cb..41aaecc71a 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/integrations/django/__init__.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/integrations/django/__init__.py
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ class DjangoIntegration(Integration):
     def __init__(
         self,
         transaction_style="url",  # type: str
-        middleware_spans=True,  # type: bool
+        middleware_spans=False,  # type: bool
         signals_spans=True,  # type: bool
         cache_spans=False,  # type: bool
         db_transaction_spans=False,  # type: bool
diff --git a/tests/integrations/django/test_basic.py b/tests/integrations/django/test_basic.py
index bbe29c7238..40a6c84810 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/django/test_basic.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/django/test_basic.py
@@ -1023,7 +1023,7 @@ def test_render_spans_queryset_in_data(sentry_init, client, capture_events):
 def test_middleware_spans(sentry_init, client, capture_events, render_span_tree):
     sentry_init(
         integrations=[
-            DjangoIntegration(signals_spans=False),
+            DjangoIntegration(middleware_spans=True, signals_spans=False),
         ],
         traces_sample_rate=1.0,
     )
@@ -1040,7 +1040,7 @@ def test_middleware_spans(sentry_init, client, capture_events, render_span_tree)
 def test_middleware_spans_disabled(sentry_init, client, capture_events):
     sentry_init(
         integrations=[
-            DjangoIntegration(middleware_spans=False, signals_spans=False),
+            DjangoIntegration(signals_spans=False),
         ],
         traces_sample_rate=1.0,
     )