diff --git a/.chloggen/3474.yaml b/.chloggen/3474.yaml
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..bddc51a539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.chloggen/3474.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: breaking
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. collector, target allocator, auto-instrumentation, opamp, github action)
+component: operator
+
+# A brief description of the change. Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Make ServiceMonitor for operator metrics optional
+
+# One or more tracking issues related to the change
+issues: [3474]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext: |
+  Add create-sm-operator-metrics flag to create a ServiceMonitor for the operator metrics.
+  This is disabled by default to avoid breaking changes.
diff --git a/bundle/openshift/manifests/opentelemetry-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml b/bundle/openshift/manifests/opentelemetry-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
index 751ef48728..0fa5c51ca7 100644
--- a/bundle/openshift/manifests/opentelemetry-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
+++ b/bundle/openshift/manifests/opentelemetry-operator.clusterserviceversion.yaml
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ metadata:
     categories: Logging & Tracing,Monitoring
     certified: "false"
     containerImage: ghcr.io/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/opentelemetry-operator
-    createdAt: "2024-11-27T11:54:33Z"
+    createdAt: "2024-12-03T12:59:03Z"
     description: Provides the OpenTelemetry components, including the Collector
     operators.operatorframework.io/builder: operator-sdk-v1.29.0
     operators.operatorframework.io/project_layout: go.kubebuilder.io/v3
@@ -482,6 +482,7 @@ spec:
                 - --openshift-create-dashboard=true
                 - --feature-gates=+operator.observability.prometheus
                 - --enable-cr-metrics=true
+                - --create-sm-operator-metrics=true
                 env:
                 - name: SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME
                   valueFrom:
diff --git a/config/overlays/openshift/manager-patch.yaml b/config/overlays/openshift/manager-patch.yaml
index 57b097ca29..dd5718fc27 100644
--- a/config/overlays/openshift/manager-patch.yaml
+++ b/config/overlays/openshift/manager-patch.yaml
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@
     - '--enable-go-instrumentation=true'
     - '--openshift-create-dashboard=true'
     - '--feature-gates=+operator.observability.prometheus'
-    - '--enable-cr-metrics=true'
\ No newline at end of file
+    - '--enable-cr-metrics=true'
+    - '--create-sm-operator-metrics=true'
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 7c82ce103d..1a5a2d984a 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ func main() {
 		enableNodeJSInstrumentation      bool
 		enableJavaInstrumentation        bool
 		enableCRMetrics                  bool
+		createSMOperatorMetrics          bool
 		collectorImage                   string
 		targetAllocatorImage             string
 		operatorOpAMPBridgeImage         string
@@ -165,6 +166,7 @@ func main() {
 	pflag.BoolVar(&enableNodeJSInstrumentation, constants.FlagNodeJS, true, "Controls whether the operator supports nodejs auto-instrumentation")
 	pflag.BoolVar(&enableJavaInstrumentation, constants.FlagJava, true, "Controls whether the operator supports java auto-instrumentation")
 	pflag.BoolVar(&enableCRMetrics, constants.FlagCRMetrics, false, "Controls whether exposing the CR metrics is enabled")
+	pflag.BoolVar(&createSMOperatorMetrics, "create-sm-operator-metrics", false, "Create a ServiceMonitor for the operator metrics")
 
 	stringFlagOrEnv(&collectorImage, "collector-image", "RELATED_IMAGE_COLLECTOR", fmt.Sprintf("ghcr.io/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/opentelemetry-collector:%s", v.OpenTelemetryCollector), "The default OpenTelemetry collector image. This image is used when no image is specified in the CustomResource.")
 	stringFlagOrEnv(&targetAllocatorImage, "target-allocator-image", "RELATED_IMAGE_TARGET_ALLOCATOR", fmt.Sprintf("ghcr.io/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/target-allocator:%s", v.TargetAllocator), "The default OpenTelemetry target allocator image. This image is used when no image is specified in the CustomResource.")
@@ -230,6 +232,7 @@ func main() {
 		"enable-nodejs-instrumentation", enableNodeJSInstrumentation,
 		"enable-java-instrumentation", enableJavaInstrumentation,
 		"create-openshift-dashboard", createOpenShiftDashboard,
+		"create-sm-operator-metrics", createSMOperatorMetrics,
 		"zap-message-key", encodeMessageKey,
 		"zap-level-key", encodeLevelKey,
 		"zap-time-key", encodeTimeKey,
@@ -424,7 +427,7 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
-	if cfg.PrometheusCRAvailability() == prometheus.Available {
+	if cfg.PrometheusCRAvailability() == prometheus.Available && createSMOperatorMetrics {
 		operatorMetrics, opError := operatormetrics.NewOperatorMetrics(mgr.GetConfig(), scheme, ctrl.Log.WithName("operator-metrics-sm"))
 		if opError != nil {
 			setupLog.Error(opError, "Failed to create the operator metrics SM")