diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/client/client.go b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/client/client.go
index b51b824e45b..90ec24c2791 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/client/client.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/client/client.go
@@ -254,12 +254,7 @@ func (c *baseClientImpl) createMultiSearchRequests(searchRequests []*SearchReque
 
 func (c *baseClientImpl) getMultiSearchQueryParameters() string {
 	var qs []string
-
-	maxConcurrentShardRequests := c.ds.MaxConcurrentShardRequests
-	if maxConcurrentShardRequests == 0 {
-		maxConcurrentShardRequests = 5
-	}
-	qs = append(qs, fmt.Sprintf("max_concurrent_shard_requests=%d", maxConcurrentShardRequests))
+	qs = append(qs, fmt.Sprintf("max_concurrent_shard_requests=%d", c.ds.MaxConcurrentShardRequests))
 
 	if c.ds.IncludeFrozen {
 		qs = append(qs, "ignore_throttled=false")
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
index 28fe2bb824e..69c7fc30a62 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
@@ -32,8 +32,10 @@ var eslog = log.New("tsdb.elasticsearch")
 const (
 	// headerFromExpression is used by data sources to identify expression queries
 	headerFromExpression = "X-Grafana-From-Expr"
-	// headerFromAlert is used by datasources to identify alert queries
+	// headerFromAlert is used by data sources to identify alert queries
 	headerFromAlert = "FromAlert"
+	// this is the default value for the maxConcurrentShardRequests setting - it should be in sync with the default value in the datasource config settings
+	defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests = int64(5)
 )
 
 type Service struct {
@@ -138,18 +140,23 @@ func newInstanceSettings(httpClientProvider httpclient.Provider) datasource.Inst
 			index = settings.Database
 		}
 
-		var maxConcurrentShardRequests float64
+		var maxConcurrentShardRequests int64
 
 		switch v := jsonData["maxConcurrentShardRequests"].(type) {
+		// unmarshalling from JSON will return float64 for numbers, so we need to handle that and convert to int64
 		case float64:
-			maxConcurrentShardRequests = v
+			maxConcurrentShardRequests = int64(v)
 		case string:
-			maxConcurrentShardRequests, err = strconv.ParseFloat(v, 64)
+			maxConcurrentShardRequests, err = strconv.ParseInt(v, 10, 64)
 			if err != nil {
-				maxConcurrentShardRequests = 256
+				maxConcurrentShardRequests = defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests
 			}
 		default:
-			maxConcurrentShardRequests = 256
+			maxConcurrentShardRequests = defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests
+		}
+
+		if maxConcurrentShardRequests <= 0 {
+			maxConcurrentShardRequests = defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests
 		}
 
 		includeFrozen, ok := jsonData["includeFrozen"].(bool)
@@ -168,7 +175,7 @@ func newInstanceSettings(httpClientProvider httpclient.Provider) datasource.Inst
 			URL:                        settings.URL,
 			HTTPClient:                 httpCli,
 			Database:                   index,
-			MaxConcurrentShardRequests: int64(maxConcurrentShardRequests),
+			MaxConcurrentShardRequests: maxConcurrentShardRequests,
 			ConfiguredFields:           configuredFields,
 			Interval:                   interval,
 			IncludeFrozen:              includeFrozen,
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
index 13a6aa79c71..798e54bf6d0 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 
 type datasourceInfo struct {
 	TimeField                  any    `json:"timeField"`
-	MaxConcurrentShardRequests int64  `json:"maxConcurrentShardRequests"`
+	MaxConcurrentShardRequests any    `json:"maxConcurrentShardRequests,omitempty"`
 	Interval                   string `json:"interval"`
 }
 
@@ -71,6 +71,126 @@ func TestNewInstanceSettings(t *testing.T) {
 			require.EqualError(t, err, "elasticsearch time field name is required")
 		})
 	})
+
+	t.Run("maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Run("no maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField: "@timestamp",
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests, instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("string maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: "10",
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, int64(10), instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("number maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: 10,
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, int64(10), instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("zero maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: 0,
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests, instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("negative maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: -10,
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests, instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("float maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: 10.5,
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, int64(10), instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+
+		t.Run("invalid maxConcurrentShardRequests", func(t *testing.T) {
+			dsInfo := datasourceInfo{
+				TimeField:                  "@timestamp",
+				MaxConcurrentShardRequests: "invalid",
+			}
+			settingsJSON, err := json.Marshal(dsInfo)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			dsSettings := backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings{
+				JSONData: json.RawMessage(settingsJSON),
+			}
+
+			instance, err := newInstanceSettings(httpclient.NewProvider())(context.Background(), dsSettings)
+			require.Equal(t, defaultMaxConcurrentShardRequests, instance.(es.DatasourceInfo).MaxConcurrentShardRequests)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+	})
 }
 
 func TestCreateElasticsearchURL(t *testing.T) {