diff --git a/misc/systemd/ipfs-hardened.service b/misc/systemd/ipfs-hardened.service
index bf202218f..87dd08f6a 100644
--- a/misc/systemd/ipfs-hardened.service
+++ b/misc/systemd/ipfs-hardened.service
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
 #don't use swap
 MemorySwapMax=0
 
+# Don't timeout on startup. Opening the IPFS repo can take a long time in some cases (e.g., when
+# badger is recovering) and migrations can delay startup.
+#
+# Ideally, we'd be a bit smarter about this but there's no good way to do that without hooking
+# systemd dependencies deeper into go-ipfs.
+TimeoutStartSec=infinity
+
 Type=notify
 User=ipfs
 Group=ipfs
diff --git a/misc/systemd/ipfs.service b/misc/systemd/ipfs.service
index cd689d3ba..44519de77 100644
--- a/misc/systemd/ipfs.service
+++ b/misc/systemd/ipfs.service
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ After=network.target
 #don't use swap
 MemorySwapMax=0
 
+# Don't timeout on startup. Opening the IPFS repo can take a long time in some cases (e.g., when
+# badger is recovering) and migrations can delay startup.
+#
+# Ideally, we'd be a bit smarter about this but there's no good way to do that without hooking
+# systemd dependencies deeper into go-ipfs.
+TimeoutStartSec=infinity
+
 Type=notify
 User=ipfs
 Group=ipfs