diff --git a/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types.go b/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types.go
index 805ca5b1506..72509d54225 100644
--- a/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types.go
+++ b/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types.go
@@ -97,11 +97,17 @@ func (rule *AlertRuleV1) mapToModel(orgID int64) (models.AlertRule, error) {
 		return models.AlertRule{}, fmt.Errorf("rule '%s' failed to parse: no UID set", alertRule.Title)
 	}
 	alertRule.OrgID = orgID
-	duration, err := model.ParseDuration(rule.For.Value())
-	if err != nil {
-		return models.AlertRule{}, fmt.Errorf("rule '%s' failed to parse: %w", alertRule.Title, err)
+
+	duration := model.Duration(0)
+	if rule.For.Value() != "" {
+		var err error
+		duration, err = model.ParseDuration(rule.For.Value())
+		if err != nil {
+			return models.AlertRule{}, fmt.Errorf("rule '%s' failed to parse 'for' field: %w", alertRule.Title, err)
+		}
 	}
 	alertRule.For = time.Duration(duration)
+
 	dasboardUID := rule.DasboardUID.Value()
 	dashboardUID := rule.DashboardUID.Value()
 	alertRule.DashboardUID = withFallback(dashboardUID, dasboardUID) // Use correct spelling over supported typo.
diff --git a/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types_test.go b/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types_test.go
index fda8947cf8b..c2274560bfa 100644
--- a/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types_test.go
+++ b/pkg/services/provisioning/alerting/rules_types_test.go
@@ -102,11 +102,12 @@ func TestRules(t *testing.T) {
 		_, err := rule.mapToModel(1)
 		require.Error(t, err)
 	})
-	t.Run("a rule with out a for duration should error", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("a rule without a for duration should default to 0s", func(t *testing.T) {
 		rule := validRuleV1(t)
 		rule.For = values.StringValue{}
-		_, err := rule.mapToModel(1)
-		require.Error(t, err)
+		ruleMapped, err := rule.mapToModel(1)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, time.Duration(0), ruleMapped.For)
 	})
 	t.Run("a rule with an invalid for duration should error", func(t *testing.T) {
 		rule := validRuleV1(t)