diff --git a/.changelog/13076.txt b/.changelog/13076.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b388b8199ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/13076.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+agent: logs are no longer buffered at startup when logging in JSON format
+```
diff --git a/command/agent/command.go b/command/agent/command.go
index 42aa4a553a4..9ca58ce2c69 100644
--- a/command/agent/command.go
+++ b/command/agent/command.go
@@ -703,6 +703,8 @@ func (c *Command) Run(args []string) int {
 	// Swap out UI implementation if json logging is enabled
 	if config.LogJson {
 		c.Ui = &logging.HcLogUI{Log: logger}
+		// Don't buffer json logs because they aren't reordered anyway.
+		logGate.Flush()
 	}
 
 	// Log config files