diff --git a/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go b/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
index 173cf1ce6e..fe37a2acd0 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"math"
 	"net"
 	nethttp "net/http"
 	_ "net/http/pprof" // needed to add pprof to our binary.
@@ -293,7 +294,7 @@ func buildLauncherCommand(l *Launcher, cmd *cobra.Command) {
 		{
 			DestP:   &l.memoryBytesQuotaPerQuery,
 			Flag:    "query-memory-bytes",
-			Default: 10 * 1024 * 1024, // 10MB
+			Default: math.MaxInt64,
 			Desc:    "maximum number of bytes a query is allowed to use at any given time. This must be greater or equal to query-initial-memory-bytes",
 		},
 		{