diff --git a/roles/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml b/roles/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml
index 30274f2f1..d530d7582 100644
--- a/roles/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ matrix_synapse_password_config_pepper: ""
 # Controls if Synapse allows people to authenticate against its local database.
 # It may be useful to disable this if you've configured additional password providers
 # and only wish authentication to happen through them.
-matrix_synapse_password_config_localdb_enabled: false
+matrix_synapse_password_config_localdb_enabled: true
 
 # Controls the number of events that Synapse caches in memory.
 matrix_synapse_event_cache_size: "100K"