diff --git a/spec/integration/outputs/ilm_spec.rb b/spec/integration/outputs/ilm_spec.rb
index d3755337..e6c2dce1 100644
--- a/spec/integration/outputs/ilm_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/outputs/ilm_spec.rb
@@ -236,7 +236,8 @@
   let (:settings) {
     {
         "ilm_enabled" => ilm_enabled,
-        "hosts" => "#{get_host_port()}"
+        "hosts" => "#{get_host_port()}",
+        "ecs_compatibility" => "disabled", # specs are tightly tied to non-ECS defaults
     }
   }
   let (:small_max_doc_policy) { max_docs_policy(3) }
diff --git a/spec/integration/outputs/ingest_pipeline_spec.rb b/spec/integration/outputs/ingest_pipeline_spec.rb
index c76fdaef..c550f9ab 100644
--- a/spec/integration/outputs/ingest_pipeline_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/outputs/ingest_pipeline_spec.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
     settings = {
       "hosts" => "#{get_host_port()}",
       "pipeline" => "apache-logs",
-      "data_stream" => 'false'
+      "data_stream" => 'false',
+      "ecs_compatibility" => "disabled", # specs are tightly tied to non-ECS defaults
     }
     next LogStash::Outputs::ElasticSearch.new(settings)
   end
diff --git a/spec/integration/outputs/retry_spec.rb b/spec/integration/outputs/retry_spec.rb
index 699ffeb6..5493f44c 100644
--- a/spec/integration/outputs/retry_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/outputs/retry_spec.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ def mock_actions_with_response(*resp)
       "template_overwrite" => true,
       "hosts" => get_host_port(),
       "retry_max_interval" => 64,
-      "retry_initial_interval" => 2
+      "retry_initial_interval" => 2,
+      "ecs_compatibility" => "disabled", # specs are tightly tied to non-ECS defaults
     }
     next LogStash::Outputs::ElasticSearch.new(settings)
   end