diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index a6bcce7e8..9eeb9ac02 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -70,6 +70,13 @@ pub struct Config {
     /// Must stay within db_write_buffer_size_mb to avoid mid-batch flushes.
     pub initial_sync_batch_size: usize,
 
+    /// Store index and filter blocks inside the block cache (default: false).
+    /// When enabled, bounds memory but allows eviction under pressure.
+    /// When disabled (default), index/filter blocks stay on the heap and are
+    /// may never be evicted, giving better read performance at the cost of ~18 MB
+    /// per SST file of unbounded memory.
+    pub db_cache_index_filter_blocks: bool,
+
     #[cfg(feature = "liquid")]
     pub parent_network: BNetwork,
     #[cfg(feature = "liquid")]
@@ -256,6 +263,10 @@ impl Config {
                     .help("Number of blocks per batch during initial sync. Larger values keep more txo rows in the write buffer during indexing, improving lookup_txos cache hit rate for recently-created outputs.")
                     .takes_value(true)
                     .default_value("250")
+             ).arg(
+                Arg::with_name("cache_index_filter_blocks")
+                    .long("cache-index-filter-blocks")
+                    .help("Store index/filter blocks in the block cache instead of on the heap. Bounds memory but allows eviction under cache pressure.")
              ).arg(
                 Arg::with_name("zmq_addr")
                     .long("zmq-addr")
@@ -496,6 +507,7 @@ impl Config {
             db_parallelism: value_t_or_exit!(m, "db_parallelism", usize),
             db_write_buffer_size_mb: value_t_or_exit!(m, "db_write_buffer_size_mb", usize),
             initial_sync_batch_size: value_t_or_exit!(m, "initial_sync_batch_size", usize),
+            db_cache_index_filter_blocks: m.is_present("cache_index_filter_blocks"),
             zmq_addr,
 
             #[cfg(feature = "liquid")]
diff --git a/src/new_index/db.rs b/src/new_index/db.rs
index e4c51f72d..43fad6786 100644
--- a/src/new_index/db.rs
+++ b/src/new_index/db.rs
@@ -150,20 +150,18 @@ impl DB {
         let mut block_opts = rocksdb::BlockBasedOptions::default();
         let cache_size_bytes = config.db_block_cache_mb * 1024 * 1024;
         block_opts.set_block_cache(&rocksdb::Cache::new_lru_cache(cache_size_bytes));
-        // Store index and filter blocks inside the block cache so their memory is
-        // bounded by --db-block-cache-mb. Without this, RocksDB allocates table-reader
-        // memory (index + filter blocks) on the heap separately for every open SST file.
-        // During initial sync, L0 files accumulate up to the compaction trigger (64 by
-        // default) and this unbounded heap allocation can grow to many GB.
-        // Note: increase --db-block-cache-mb proportionally (e.g. 4096) so the cache is
-        // large enough to hold the working set of filter/index blocks without thrashing.
-        block_opts.set_cache_index_and_filter_blocks(true);
-        // Pin L0 index and filter blocks in the cache so they are never evicted.
-        // Without this, data block churn evicts L0 index/filter blocks, causing
-        // repeated disk reads for every SST lookup — worse than the old heap approach.
-        // With this, L0 index/filter blocks behave like the old table-reader heap
-        // allocation but stay within the bounded block cache.
-        block_opts.set_pin_l0_filter_and_index_blocks_in_cache(true);
+        // When --cache-index-filter-blocks is passed, store index and filter blocks
+        // inside the block cache so their memory is bounded by --db-block-cache-mb.
+        // Without this (the default), RocksDB keeps them on the heap where they may
+        // never be evicted — possibly better for read performance compared to needing
+        // to go to disk, but uses ~18 MB per SST file.
+        if config.db_cache_index_filter_blocks {
+            block_opts.set_cache_index_and_filter_blocks(true);
+            // Pin L0 index and filter blocks in the cache so they are never evicted.
+            // Without this, data block churn evicts L0 index/filter blocks, causing
+            // repeated disk reads for every SST lookup.
+            block_opts.set_pin_l0_filter_and_index_blocks_in_cache(true);
+        }
         // Bloom filters allow multi_get() to skip SST files that don't contain a key
         // without touching the index or data blocks. Without this, every point lookup
         // must binary-search the index of every L0 file whose key range overlaps the
diff --git a/tests/common.rs b/tests/common.rs
index ea240659a..849608877 100644
--- a/tests/common.rs
+++ b/tests/common.rs
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ impl TestRunner {
             db_parallelism: 2,
             db_write_buffer_size_mb: 256,
             initial_sync_batch_size: 250,
+            db_cache_index_filter_blocks: false,
             //#[cfg(feature = "electrum-discovery")]
             //electrum_public_hosts: Option<crate::electrum::ServerHosts>,
             //#[cfg(feature = "electrum-discovery")]