diff --git a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/cli.rs b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/cli.rs
index 6c30532daf..460d536e3a 100644
--- a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/cli.rs
+++ b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/cli.rs
@@ -329,7 +329,6 @@ pub(crate) async fn run_comparison(args: Args, _ctx: CliContext) -> Result<()> {
         output_dir.clone(),
         git_manager.clone(),
         args.features.clone(),
-        args.profile,
     )?;
     // Initialize node manager
     let mut node_manager = NodeManager::new(&args);
diff --git a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/compilation.rs b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/compilation.rs
index 3795dc58e9..d5b74e911e 100644
--- a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/compilation.rs
+++ b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/compilation.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ pub(crate) struct CompilationManager {
     output_dir: PathBuf,
     git_manager: GitManager,
     features: String,
-    enable_profiling: bool,
 }
 
 impl CompilationManager {
@@ -24,9 +23,8 @@ impl CompilationManager {
         output_dir: PathBuf,
         git_manager: GitManager,
         features: String,
-        enable_profiling: bool,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
-        Ok(Self { repo_root, output_dir, git_manager, features, enable_profiling })
+        Ok(Self { repo_root, output_dir, git_manager, features })
     }
 
     /// Detect if the RPC endpoint is an Optimism chain
@@ -102,18 +100,9 @@ impl CompilationManager {
         let mut cmd = Command::new("cargo");
         cmd.arg("build").arg("--profile").arg("profiling");
 
-        // Append samply feature when profiling to enable tracing span markers.
-        // NOTE: The `samply` feature must exist in the branch being compiled. If comparing
-        // against an older branch that predates the samply integration, compilation will fail
-        // or markers won't appear. In that case, omit --profile or ensure both branches
-        // include the samply feature support.
-        let features = if self.enable_profiling && !self.features.contains("samply") {
-            format!("{},samply", self.features)
-        } else {
-            self.features.clone()
-        };
-        cmd.arg("--features").arg(&features);
-        info!("Using features: {}", features);
+        let features = &self.features;
+        cmd.arg("--features").arg(features);
+        info!("Using features: {features}");
 
         // Add bin-specific arguments for optimism
         if is_optimism {
diff --git a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/node.rs b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/node.rs
index 4de48eebf4..b551a24721 100644
--- a/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/node.rs
+++ b/bin/reth-bench-compare/src/node.rs
@@ -211,6 +211,11 @@ impl NodeManager {
         cmd.arg("--");
         cmd.args(reth_args);
 
+        // Enable tracing-samply
+        if supports_samply_flags(&reth_args[0]) {
+            cmd.arg("--log.samply");
+        }
+
         // Set environment variable to disable log styling
         cmd.env("RUST_LOG_STYLE", "never");
 
@@ -552,3 +557,16 @@ impl NodeManager {
         Ok(())
     }
 }
+
+fn supports_samply_flags(bin: &str) -> bool {
+    let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new(bin);
+    // NOTE: The flag to check must come before --help.
+    // We pass --help as a shortcut to not execute any command.
+    cmd.args(["--log.samply", "--help"]);
+    debug!(?cmd, "Checking samply flags support");
+    let Ok(output) = cmd.output() else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    debug!(?output, "Samply flags support check");
+    output.status.success()
+}
diff --git a/bin/reth/Cargo.toml b/bin/reth/Cargo.toml
index 9eef353349..6baeb8679b 100644
--- a/bin/reth/Cargo.toml
+++ b/bin/reth/Cargo.toml
@@ -87,10 +87,6 @@ otlp = [
     "reth-ethereum-cli/otlp",
     "reth-node-core/otlp",
 ]
-samply = [
-    "reth-ethereum-cli/samply",
-    "reth-node-core/samply",
-]
 js-tracer = [
     "reth-node-builder/js-tracer",
     "reth-node-ethereum/js-tracer",
diff --git a/crates/ethereum/cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/ethereum/cli/Cargo.toml
index 3000f4c67b..83f8083ae4 100644
--- a/crates/ethereum/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/ethereum/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ tempfile.workspace = true
 default = []
 
 otlp = ["reth-tracing/otlp", "reth-node-core/otlp"]
-samply = ["reth-tracing/samply", "reth-node-core/samply"]
 
 dev = ["reth-cli-commands/arbitrary"]
 
diff --git a/crates/node/core/Cargo.toml b/crates/node/core/Cargo.toml
index e4a3ef7120..eccccd8c14 100644
--- a/crates/node/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/node/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@ jemalloc = ["reth-cli-util/jemalloc"]
 asm-keccak = ["alloy-primitives/asm-keccak"]
 keccak-cache-global = ["alloy-primitives/keccak-cache-global"]
 otlp = ["reth-tracing/otlp"]
-samply = ["reth-tracing/samply"]
 
 min-error-logs = ["tracing/release_max_level_error"]
 min-warn-logs = ["tracing/release_max_level_warn"]
diff --git a/crates/node/core/src/args/log.rs b/crates/node/core/src/args/log.rs
index 20c60362d7..311e55588f 100644
--- a/crates/node/core/src/args/log.rs
+++ b/crates/node/core/src/args/log.rs
@@ -61,6 +61,20 @@ pub struct LogArgs {
     )]
     pub journald_filter: String,
 
+    /// Emit traces to samply. Only useful when profiling.
+    #[arg(long = "log.samply", global = true, hide = true)]
+    pub samply: bool,
+
+    /// The filter to use for traces emitted to samply.
+    #[arg(
+        long = "log.samply.filter",
+        value_name = "FILTER",
+        global = true,
+        default_value = "debug",
+        hide = true
+    )]
+    pub samply_filter: String,
+
     /// Sets whether or not the formatter emits ANSI terminal escape codes for colors and other
     /// text formatting.
     #[arg(
@@ -129,6 +143,11 @@ impl LogArgs {
             tracer = tracer.with_file(file, info);
         }
 
+        if self.samply {
+            let config = self.layer_info(LogFormat::Terminal, self.samply_filter.clone(), false);
+            tracer = tracer.with_samply(config);
+        }
+
         let guard = tracer.init_with_layers(layers)?;
         Ok(guard)
     }
diff --git a/crates/optimism/bin/Cargo.toml b/crates/optimism/bin/Cargo.toml
index c9d2a2f3d3..a13ab3fed9 100644
--- a/crates/optimism/bin/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/optimism/bin/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ workspace = true
 default = ["jemalloc", "otlp", "reth-optimism-evm/portable", "js-tracer", "keccak-cache-global", "asm-keccak"]
 
 otlp = ["reth-optimism-cli/otlp"]
-samply = ["reth-optimism-cli/samply"]
 
 js-tracer = [
     "reth-optimism-node/js-tracer",
diff --git a/crates/optimism/cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/optimism/cli/Cargo.toml
index 062d66dfd4..bdb680b206 100644
--- a/crates/optimism/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/optimism/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ default = []
 
 # Opentelemtry feature to activate metrics export
 otlp = ["reth-tracing/otlp", "reth-node-core/otlp"]
-samply = ["reth-tracing/samply", "reth-node-core/samply"]
 
 asm-keccak = [
     "alloy-primitives/asm-keccak",
diff --git a/crates/tracing/Cargo.toml b/crates/tracing/Cargo.toml
index fd5f5f55de..5b61b1f3e1 100644
--- a/crates/tracing/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/tracing/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,14 +21,13 @@ tracing-subscriber = { workspace = true, features = ["env-filter", "fmt", "ansi"
 tracing-appender.workspace = true
 tracing-journald.workspace = true
 tracing-logfmt.workspace = true
+tracing-samply.workspace = true
 
 # misc
 clap = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
 eyre.workspace = true
 rolling-file.workspace = true
-tracing-samply = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 
 [features]
 default = ["otlp"]
 otlp = ["reth-tracing-otlp"]
-samply = ["tracing-samply"]
diff --git a/crates/tracing/src/layers.rs b/crates/tracing/src/layers.rs
index 44462ca7c6..dd5c7787d4 100644
--- a/crates/tracing/src/layers.rs
+++ b/crates/tracing/src/layers.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use crate::formatter::LogFormat;
+use crate::{formatter::LogFormat, LayerInfo};
 #[cfg(feature = "otlp")]
 use reth_tracing_otlp::{span_layer, OtlpConfig};
 use rolling_file::{RollingConditionBasic, RollingFileAppender};
@@ -130,6 +130,18 @@ impl Layers {
         Ok(guard)
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn samply(&mut self, config: LayerInfo) -> eyre::Result<()> {
+        self.add_layer(
+            tracing_samply::SamplyLayer::new()
+                .map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!("Failed to create samply layer: {e}"))?
+                .with_filter(build_env_filter(
+                    Some(config.default_directive.parse()?),
+                    &config.filters,
+                )?),
+        );
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Add OTLP spans layer to the layer collection
     #[cfg(feature = "otlp")]
     pub fn with_span_layer(
diff --git a/crates/tracing/src/lib.rs b/crates/tracing/src/lib.rs
index 346cc5faf1..f42e08370f 100644
--- a/crates/tracing/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/tracing/src/lib.rs
@@ -70,44 +70,51 @@ pub struct RethTracer {
     stdout: LayerInfo,
     journald: Option<String>,
     file: Option<(LayerInfo, FileInfo)>,
+    samply: Option<LayerInfo>,
 }
 
 impl RethTracer {
-    ///  Constructs a new `Tracer` with default settings.
+    /// Constructs a new `Tracer` with default settings.
     ///
-    ///  Initializes with default stdout layer configuration.
-    ///  Journald and file layers are not set by default.
+    /// Initializes with default stdout layer configuration.
+    /// Journald and file layers are not set by default.
     pub fn new() -> Self {
-        Self { stdout: LayerInfo::default(), journald: None, file: None }
+        Self { stdout: LayerInfo::default(), journald: None, file: None, samply: None }
     }
 
-    ///  Sets a custom configuration for the stdout layer.
+    /// Sets a custom configuration for the stdout layer.
     ///
-    ///  # Arguments
-    ///  * `config` - The `LayerInfo` to use for the stdout layer.
+    /// # Arguments
+    /// * `config` - The `LayerInfo` to use for the stdout layer.
     pub fn with_stdout(mut self, config: LayerInfo) -> Self {
         self.stdout = config;
         self
     }
 
-    ///  Sets the journald layer filter.
+    /// Sets the journald layer filter.
     ///
-    ///  # Arguments
-    ///  * `filter` - The `filter` to use for the journald layer.
+    /// # Arguments
+    /// * `filter` - The `filter` to use for the journald layer.
     pub fn with_journald(mut self, filter: String) -> Self {
         self.journald = Some(filter);
         self
     }
 
-    ///  Sets the file layer configuration and associated file info.
+    /// Sets the file layer configuration and associated file info.
     ///
     ///  # Arguments
-    ///  * `config` - The `LayerInfo` to use for the file layer.
-    ///  * `file_info` - The `FileInfo` containing details about the log file.
+    /// * `config` - The `LayerInfo` to use for the file layer.
+    /// * `file_info` - The `FileInfo` containing details about the log file.
     pub fn with_file(mut self, config: LayerInfo, file_info: FileInfo) -> Self {
         self.file = Some((config, file_info));
         self
     }
+
+    /// Sets the samply layer configuration.
+    pub fn with_samply(mut self, config: LayerInfo) -> Self {
+        self.samply = Some(config);
+        self
+    }
 }
 
 impl Default for RethTracer {
@@ -224,11 +231,9 @@ impl Tracer for RethTracer {
             None
         };
 
-        #[cfg(feature = "samply")]
-        layers.add_layer(
-            tracing_samply::SamplyLayer::new()
-                .map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!("Failed to create samply layer: {}", e))?,
-        );
+        if let Some(config) = self.samply {
+            layers.samply(config)?;
+        }
 
         // The error is returned if the global default subscriber is already set,
         // so it's safe to ignore it