diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 5ef1c7ad3c..4df1405d2e 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -2928,7 +2928,7 @@ include_dir 'conf.d'
         Not all of these choices are available on all platforms.
         The default is the first method in the above list that is supported
         by the platform, except that <literal>fdatasync</literal> is the default on
-        Linux.  The default is not necessarily ideal; it might be
+        Linux and FreeBSD.  The default is not necessarily ideal; it might be
         necessary to change this setting or other aspects of your system
         configuration in order to create a crash-safe configuration or
         achieve optimal performance.
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
index bd57e917e1..db6db376eb 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@
 #wal_sync_method = fsync		# the default is the first option
 					# supported by the operating system:
 					#   open_datasync
-					#   fdatasync (default on Linux)
+					#   fdatasync (default on Linux and FreeBSD)
 					#   fsync
 					#   fsync_writethrough
 					#   open_sync
diff --git a/src/include/port/freebsd.h b/src/include/port/freebsd.h
index 2e36d3da4f..2e2e749a6b 100644
--- a/src/include/port/freebsd.h
+++ b/src/include/port/freebsd.h
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
 /* src/include/port/freebsd.h */
+
+/*
+ * Set the default wal_sync_method to fdatasync.  xlogdefs.h's normal rules
+ * would prefer open_datasync on FreeBSD 13+, but that is not a good choice on
+ * many systems.
+ */
+#ifdef HAVE_FDATASYNC
+#define PLATFORM_DEFAULT_SYNC_METHOD	SYNC_METHOD_FDATASYNC
+#endif