diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index f12ca5ecebc..ecbcb1da7f7 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ class Tracer(trace_api.Tracer):
     def __init__(
         self,
         name: str = "",
-        sampler: sampling.Sampler = trace_api.sampling.ALWAYS_ON,
+        sampler: sampling.Sampler = trace_api.sampling.DEFAULT_ON,
     ) -> None:
         slot_name = "current_span"
         if name: