diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/README.md b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/README.md
index 03b0f8a1d2b8..a6ff96226656 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/README.md
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/README.md
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ Connection options:
 - `ttl` (default = 0): The data time-to-live example 30m, 48h. Also, 0 means no ttl.
 - `database` (default = otel): The database name.
 - `connection_params` (default = {}). Params is the extra connection parameters with map format.
+- `create_db_and_tables` (default = false). On startup, create the otel database and tables
 
 ClickHouse tables:
 
diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/config.go b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/config.go
index 1b1b7ed9640a..1b58d442e450 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/config.go
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/config.go
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	// Deprecated: Use 'ttl' instead
 	TTLDays uint `mapstructure:"ttl_days"`
 	// TTL is The data time-to-live example 30m, 48h. 0 means no ttl.
-	TTL time.Duration `mapstructure:"ttl"`
+	TTL               time.Duration `mapstructure:"ttl"`
+	CreateDBAndTables bool          `mapstructure:"create_db_and_tables"`
 }
 
 const defaultDatabase = "default"
diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/example/otel-collector-config.yml b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/example/otel-collector-config.yml
index 4749d46791e6..4dea1fff4b84 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/example/otel-collector-config.yml
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/example/otel-collector-config.yml
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ processors:
 #        action: upsert
 exporters:
   clickhouse:
+    create_db_and_tables: true
     endpoint: http://clickhouse:8123
     database: otel
     logs_table_name: otel_logs_1
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ exporters:
     connection_params:
       async_insert: 1
       wait_for_async_insert: 0
-    ttl_days: 12h
+    ttl_days: 1
     timeout: 10s
     sending_queue:
       queue_size: 100
diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_logs.go b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_logs.go
index b75ee1a0bba3..8306001a9f90 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_logs.go
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_logs.go
@@ -42,11 +42,14 @@ func newLogsExporter(logger *zap.Logger, cfg *Config) (*logsExporter, error) {
 }
 
 func (e *logsExporter) start(ctx context.Context, _ component.Host) error {
-	if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
+	if e.cfg.CreateDBAndTables {
+		if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
-	return createLogsTable(ctx, e.cfg, e.client)
+		return createLogsTable(ctx, e.cfg, e.client)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // shutdown will shut down the exporter.
diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_metrics.go b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_metrics.go
index 340b3fe071ea..68d9c9db3739 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_metrics.go
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_metrics.go
@@ -37,14 +37,19 @@ func newMetricsExporter(logger *zap.Logger, cfg *Config) (*metricsExporter, erro
 }
 
 func (e *metricsExporter) start(ctx context.Context, _ component.Host) error {
-	if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if e.cfg.CreateDBAndTables {
+		if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	internal.SetLogger(e.logger)
 
 	ttlExpr := generateTTLExpr(e.cfg.TTLDays, e.cfg.TTL)
-	return internal.NewMetricsTable(ctx, e.cfg.MetricsTableName, ttlExpr, e.client)
+	if e.cfg.CreateDBAndTables {
+		return internal.NewMetricsTable(ctx, e.cfg.MetricsTableName, ttlExpr, e.client)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // shutdown will shut down the exporter.
diff --git a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_traces.go b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_traces.go
index eef63f488c02..63e381137e23 100644
--- a/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_traces.go
+++ b/exporter/clickhouseexporter/exporter_traces.go
@@ -42,11 +42,13 @@ func newTracesExporter(logger *zap.Logger, cfg *Config) (*tracesExporter, error)
 }
 
 func (e *tracesExporter) start(ctx context.Context, _ component.Host) error {
-	if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if e.cfg.CreateDBAndTables {
+		if err := createDatabase(ctx, e.cfg); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return createTracesTable(ctx, e.cfg, e.client)
 	}
-
-	return createTracesTable(ctx, e.cfg, e.client)
+	return nil
 }
 
 // shutdown will shut down the exporter.