diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/autoconfig/zipkin2/ZipkinAutoConfiguration.java b/spring-cloud-sleuth-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/autoconfig/zipkin2/ZipkinAutoConfiguration.java
index 06420396f..a72aac33d 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/autoconfig/zipkin2/ZipkinAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-sleuth-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/autoconfig/zipkin2/ZipkinAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@ public class ZipkinAutoConfiguration {
 		CheckResult checkResult = checkResult(zipkinExecutor, sender, 1_000L);
 		logCheckResult(sender, checkResult);
 
-		// historical constraint. Note: AsyncReporter supports memory bounds
-		AsyncReporter<Span> asyncReporter = AsyncReporter.builder(sender).queuedMaxSpans(1000)
+		// Note: AsyncReporter supports memory bounds
+		AsyncReporter<Span> asyncReporter = AsyncReporter.builder(sender).queuedMaxSpans(zipkin.getQueuedMaxSpans())
 				.messageTimeout(zipkin.getMessageTimeout(), TimeUnit.SECONDS).metrics(reporterMetrics)
 				.build(zipkin.getEncoder());
 
diff --git a/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/zipkin2/ZipkinProperties.java b/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/zipkin2/ZipkinProperties.java
index 14d150819..a5472ddec 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/zipkin2/ZipkinProperties.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-sleuth-zipkin/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/sleuth/zipkin2/ZipkinProperties.java
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ public class ZipkinProperties {
 
 	private Locator locator = new Locator();
 
+	/**
+	 * Maximum backlog of spans reported vs sent.
+	 */
+	private int queuedMaxSpans = 1000;
+
 	public Locator getLocator() {
 		return this.locator;
 	}
@@ -147,6 +152,14 @@ public class ZipkinProperties {
 		this.encoder = encoder;
 	}
 
+	public int getQueuedMaxSpans() {
+		return queuedMaxSpans;
+	}
+
+	public void setQueuedMaxSpans(int queuedMaxSpans) {
+		this.queuedMaxSpans = queuedMaxSpans;
+	}
+
 	/** When enabled, spans are gzipped before sent to the zipkin server. */
 	public static class Compression {