diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index 10def8396..bad2f25eb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ endif::[]
 
 https://github.com/elastic/apm-agent-go/compare/v1.13.1...master[View commits]
 
+- module/apmhttp: add apmhttp.WithClientSpanType ClientOption to set the span type of http client requests {pull}1106[#(1106)]
+
 [[release-notes-1.x]]
 === Go Agent version 1.x
 
diff --git a/module/apmhttp/client.go b/module/apmhttp/client.go
index f48ca4877..e629e7d4f 100644
--- a/module/apmhttp/client.go
+++ b/module/apmhttp/client.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ func WrapRoundTripper(r http.RoundTripper, o ...ClientOption) http.RoundTripper
 		r:              r,
 		requestName:    ClientRequestName,
 		requestIgnorer: IgnoreNone,
+		spanType:       "external.http",
 	}
 	for _, o := range o {
 		o(rt)
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ type roundTripper struct {
 	requestName    RequestNameFunc
 	requestIgnorer RequestIgnorerFunc
 	traceRequests  bool
+	spanType       string
 }
 
 // RoundTrip delegates to r.r, emitting a span if req's context
@@ -102,7 +104,7 @@ func (r *roundTripper) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	}
 
 	name := r.requestName(req)
-	span := tx.StartSpan(name, "external.http", apm.SpanFromContext(ctx))
+	span := tx.StartSpan(name, r.spanType, apm.SpanFromContext(ctx))
 	var rt *requestTracer
 	if !span.Dropped() {
 		traceContext = span.TraceContext()
@@ -211,3 +213,12 @@ func WithClientRequestName(r RequestNameFunc) ClientOption {
 		rt.requestName = r
 	})
 }
+
+// WithClientSpanType sets the span type for HTTP client requests.
+//
+// Defaults to "external.http".
+func WithClientSpanType(spanType string) ClientOption {
+	return ClientOption(func(rt *roundTripper) {
+		rt.spanType = spanType
+	})
+}
diff --git a/module/apmhttp/client_test.go b/module/apmhttp/client_test.go
index ae77d5611..2a5f6d682 100644
--- a/module/apmhttp/client_test.go
+++ b/module/apmhttp/client_test.go
@@ -354,6 +354,22 @@ func TestClientOutcome(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "failure", spans[2].Outcome)
 }
 
+func TestWithClientSpanType(t *testing.T) {
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTeapot)
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+
+	option := apmhttp.WithClientSpanType("cache")
+	_, spans, _ := apmtest.WithTransaction(func(ctx context.Context) {
+		mustGET(ctx, server.URL, option)
+	})
+
+	require.Len(t, spans, 1)
+	span := spans[0]
+	assert.Equal(t, "cache", span.Type)
+}
+
 func mustGET(ctx context.Context, url string, o ...apmhttp.ClientOption) (statusCode int, responseBody string) {
 	client := apmhttp.WrapClient(http.DefaultClient, o...)
 	resp, err := ctxhttp.Get(ctx, client, url)