diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b1249ba55..ac8bbb468 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@ TODO.md
 # IDE system files
 .idea
 .vscode
+
+/go.work*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 0e14658af..bdbfedde0 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ type ClientOptions struct {
 	TracesSampleRate float64
 	// Used to customize the sampling of traces, overrides TracesSampleRate.
 	TracesSampler TracesSampler
+	// Which instrumentation to use for tracing. Either "sentry" or "otel" are supported.
+	// Setting this to "otel" will ignore TracesSampleRate and TracesSampler and assume sampling is performed by otel.
+	TracesInstrumenter string
 	// The sample rate for profiling traces in the range [0.0, 1.0].
 	// This is relative to TracesSampleRate - it is a ratio of profiled traces out of all sampled traces.
 	ProfilesSampleRate float64
@@ -301,6 +304,19 @@ func NewClient(options ClientOptions) (*Client, error) {
 		options.MaxSpans = defaultMaxSpans
 	}
 
+	switch options.TracesInstrumenter {
+	case "":
+		options.TracesInstrumenter = "sentry"
+	case "sentry":
+		// noop
+	case "otel":
+		// sampling is performed by the OpenTelemetry SDK
+		options.TracesSampleRate = 1.0
+		options.TracesSampler = nil
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid value for TracesInstrumenter (supported are 'sentry' and 'otel'): %q", options.TracesInstrumenter)
+	}
+
 	// SENTRYGODEBUG is a comma-separated list of key=value pairs (similar
 	// to GODEBUG). It is not a supported feature: recognized debug options
 	// may change any time.
diff --git a/gin/sentrygin.go b/gin/sentrygin.go
index 387699109..cae1256cc 100644
--- a/gin/sentrygin.go
+++ b/gin/sentrygin.go
@@ -79,16 +79,18 @@ func (h *handler) handle(c *gin.Context) {
 		sentry.WithTransactionSource(transactionSource),
 	}
 
-	transaction := sentry.StartTransaction(ctx,
-		fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", c.Request.Method, transactionName),
-		options...,
-	)
-	defer func() {
-		transaction.Status = sentry.HTTPtoSpanStatus(c.Writer.Status())
-		transaction.Finish()
-	}()
-
-	c.Request = c.Request.WithContext(transaction.Context())
+	if hub.Client().Options().TracesInstrumenter == "sentry" {
+		transaction := sentry.StartTransaction(ctx,
+			fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", c.Request.Method, transactionName),
+			options...,
+		)
+		defer func() {
+			transaction.Status = sentry.HTTPtoSpanStatus(c.Writer.Status())
+			transaction.Finish()
+		}()
+		c.Request = c.Request.WithContext(transaction.Context())
+	}
+
 	hub.Scope().SetRequest(c.Request)
 	c.Set(valuesKey, hub)
 	defer h.recoverWithSentry(hub, c.Request)
diff --git a/http/sentryhttp.go b/http/sentryhttp.go
index 2fb5a9f90..55820b32e 100644
--- a/http/sentryhttp.go
+++ b/http/sentryhttp.go
@@ -99,17 +99,20 @@ func (h *Handler) handle(handler http.Handler) http.HandlerFunc {
 			sentry.ContinueFromRequest(r),
 			sentry.WithTransactionSource(sentry.SourceURL),
 		}
-		// We don't mind getting an existing transaction back so we don't need to
-		// check if it is.
-		transaction := sentry.StartTransaction(ctx,
-			fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", r.Method, r.URL.Path),
-			options...,
-		)
-		defer transaction.Finish()
-		// TODO(tracing): if the next handler.ServeHTTP panics, store
-		// information on the transaction accordingly (status, tag,
-		// level?, ...).
-		r = r.WithContext(transaction.Context())
+
+		if hub.Client().Options().TracesInstrumenter == "sentry" {
+			// We don't mind getting an existing transaction back so we don't need to
+			// check if it is.
+			transaction := sentry.StartTransaction(ctx,
+				fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", r.Method, r.URL.Path),
+				options...,
+			)
+			defer transaction.Finish()
+			// TODO(tracing): if the next handler.ServeHTTP panics, store
+			// information on the transaction accordingly (status, tag,
+			// level?, ...).
+			r = r.WithContext(transaction.Context())
+		}
 		hub.Scope().SetRequest(r)
 		defer h.recoverWithSentry(hub, r)
 		// TODO(tracing): use custom response writer to intercept