diff --git a/sys/vm/vm_page.c b/sys/vm/vm_page.c
--- a/sys/vm/vm_page.c
+++ b/sys/vm/vm_page.c
@@ -461,6 +461,7 @@
 	vmd->vmd_free_count = 0;
 	vmd->vmd_segs = 0;
 	vmd->vmd_oom = false;
+	vmd->vmd_helper_threads_enabled = true;
 	for (i = 0; i < PQ_COUNT; i++) {
 		pq = &vmd->vmd_pagequeues[i];
 		TAILQ_INIT(&pq->pq_pl);
diff --git a/sys/vm/vm_pageout.c b/sys/vm/vm_pageout.c
--- a/sys/vm/vm_pageout.c
+++ b/sys/vm/vm_pageout.c
@@ -1644,8 +1644,9 @@
 	 * If we have more work than we can do in a quarter of our interval, we
 	 * fire off multiple threads to process it.
 	 */
-	threads = vmd->vmd_inactive_threads;
-	if (threads > 1 && vmd->vmd_inactive_pps != 0 &&
+	if ((threads = vmd->vmd_inactive_threads) > 1 &&
+	    vmd->vmd_helper_threads_enabled &&
+	    vmd->vmd_inactive_pps != 0 &&
 	    shortage > vmd->vmd_inactive_pps / VM_INACT_SCAN_RATE / 4) {
 		vmd->vmd_inactive_shortage /= threads;
 		slop = shortage % threads;
@@ -2269,6 +2270,10 @@
 	pidctrl_init_sysctl(&vmd->vmd_pid, SYSCTL_CHILDREN(oid));
 
 	vmd->vmd_inactive_threads = get_pageout_threads_per_domain(vmd);
+	SYSCTL_ADD_BOOL(NULL, SYSCTL_CHILDREN(vmd->vmd_oid), OID_AUTO,
+	    "pageout_helper_threads_enabled", CTLFLAG_RWTUN,
+	    &vmd->vmd_helper_threads_enabled, 0,
+	    "Enable multi-threaded inactive queue scanning");
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/sys/vm/vm_pagequeue.h b/sys/vm/vm_pagequeue.h
--- a/sys/vm/vm_pagequeue.h
+++ b/sys/vm/vm_pagequeue.h
@@ -257,8 +257,9 @@
 
 	/* Paging control variables, used within single threaded page daemon. */
 	struct pidctrl vmd_pid;		/* Pageout controller. */
-	bool vmd_oom;
-	u_int vmd_inactive_threads;
+	bool vmd_oom;			/* An OOM kill was requested. */
+	bool vmd_helper_threads_enabled;/* Use multiple threads to scan. */
+	u_int vmd_inactive_threads;	/* Number of extra helper threads. */
 	u_int vmd_inactive_shortage;		/* Per-thread shortage. */
 	blockcount_t vmd_inactive_running;	/* Number of inactive threads. */
 	blockcount_t vmd_inactive_starting;	/* Number of threads started. */