diff --git a/src/metabase/search/impl.clj b/src/metabase/search/impl.clj
index 8d3eee4ba2628840b42fad12342a8db43bf9ceb3..e79dbe252a199af58a4ef8f5fe204b30612cd1b6 100644
--- a/src/metabase/search/impl.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/search/impl.clj
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
    [metabase.models.database :as database]
    [metabase.models.interface :as mi]
    [metabase.permissions.util :as perms.u]
+   [metabase.public-settings :as public-settings]
    [metabase.public-settings.premium-features :as premium-features]
    [metabase.search.api :as search.api]
    [metabase.search.config
@@ -206,7 +207,10 @@
 (defmethod supported-engine? :search.engine/in-place [_] true)
 (defmethod supported-engine? :search.engine/fulltext [_] (search.fulltext/supported-db? (mdb/db-type)))
 
-(def ^:private default-engine :search.engine/in-place)
+(defn- default-engine []
+  (if (public-settings/experimental-fulltext-search-enabled)
+    :search.engine/fulltext
+    :search.engine/in-place))
 
 (defn- known-engine? [engine]
   (let [registered? #(contains? (methods supported-engine?) %)]
@@ -224,15 +228,16 @@
 
             :else
             engine)))
-      default-engine))
+      (default-engine)))
 
 ;; This forwarding is here for tests, we should clean those up.
 
 (defn- apply-default-engine [{:keys [search-engine] :as search-ctx}]
-  (when (= default-engine search-engine)
-    (throw (ex-info "Missing implementation for default search-engine" {:search-engine search-engine})))
-  (log/debugf "Missing implementation for %s so instead using %s" search-engine default-engine)
-  (assoc search-ctx :search-engine default-engine))
+  (let [default (default-engine)]
+    (when (= default search-engine)
+      (throw (ex-info "Missing implementation for default search-engine" {:search-engine search-engine})))
+    (log/debugf "Missing implementation for %s so instead using %s" search-engine default)
+    (assoc search-ctx :search-engine default)))
 
 (defmethod search.api/results :default [search-ctx]
   (search.api/results (apply-default-engine search-ctx)))