diff --git a/cli/server.go b/cli/server.go
index 2696dd4616117..4e021a6b4ffb8 100644
--- a/cli/server.go
+++ b/cli/server.go
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ func server() *cobra.Command {
 		oauth2GithubClientSecret         string
 		oauth2GithubAllowedOrganizations []string
 		oauth2GithubAllowSignups         bool
+		telemetryEnable                  bool
 		telemetryURL                     string
 		tlsCertFile                      string
 		tlsClientCAFile                  string
@@ -311,7 +312,11 @@ func server() *cobra.Command {
 			if err != nil {
 				return xerrors.Errorf("parse telemetry url: %w", err)
 			}
-			if !inMemoryDatabase || cmd.Flags().Changed("telemetry-url") {
+			// Disable telemetry if the in-memory database is used unless explicitly defined!
+			if inMemoryDatabase && !cmd.Flags().Changed("telemetry") {
+				telemetryEnable = false
+			}
+			if telemetryEnable {
 				options.Telemetry, err = telemetry.New(telemetry.Options{
 					BuiltinPostgres: builtinPostgres,
 					DeploymentID:    deploymentID,
@@ -531,6 +536,7 @@ func server() *cobra.Command {
 		"Specifies organizations the user must be a member of to authenticate with GitHub.")
 	cliflag.BoolVarP(root.Flags(), &oauth2GithubAllowSignups, "oauth2-github-allow-signups", "", "CODER_OAUTH2_GITHUB_ALLOW_SIGNUPS", false,
 		"Specifies whether new users can sign up with GitHub.")
+	cliflag.BoolVarP(root.Flags(), &telemetryEnable, "telemetry", "", "CODER_TELEMETRY", true, "Specifies whether telemetry is enabled or not. Coder collects anonymized usage data to help improve our product.")
 	cliflag.StringVarP(root.Flags(), &telemetryURL, "telemetry-url", "", "CODER_TELEMETRY_URL", "https://telemetry.coder.com", "Specifies a URL to send telemetry to.")
 	_ = root.Flags().MarkHidden("telemetry-url")
 	cliflag.BoolVarP(root.Flags(), &tlsEnable, "tls-enable", "", "CODER_TLS_ENABLE", false, "Specifies if TLS will be enabled")
diff --git a/cli/server_test.go b/cli/server_test.go
index a7be6b7d021e8..1532793caa321 100644
--- a/cli/server_test.go
+++ b/cli/server_test.go
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ func TestServer(t *testing.T) {
 		server := httptest.NewServer(r)
 		t.Cleanup(server.Close)
 
-		root, _ := clitest.New(t, "server", "--in-memory", "--address", ":0", "--telemetry-url", server.URL)
+		root, _ := clitest.New(t, "server", "--in-memory", "--address", ":0", "--telemetry", "--telemetry-url", server.URL)
 		errC := make(chan error)
 		go func() {
 			errC <- root.ExecuteContext(ctx)