diff --git a/core/modules/migrate_drupal/src/NodeMigrateType.php b/core/modules/migrate_drupal/src/NodeMigrateType.php
index 94ce0dfa42..54ff90e9ac 100644
--- a/core/modules/migrate_drupal/src/NodeMigrateType.php
+++ b/core/modules/migrate_drupal/src/NodeMigrateType.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace Drupal\migrate_drupal;
 
 use Drupal\Core\Database\Connection;
+use Drupal\Core\Site\Settings;
 
 /**
  * Provides a class to determine the type of migration.
@@ -39,6 +40,11 @@ final class NodeMigrateType {
    * @internal
    */
   public static function getNodeMigrateType(Connection $connection, $version) {
+    $migrate_node_migrate_type_classic = Settings::get('migrate_node_migrate_type_classic', FALSE);
+    if ($migrate_node_migrate_type_classic) {
+      return static::NODE_MIGRATE_TYPE_CLASSIC;
+    }
+
     $migrate_type = static::NODE_MIGRATE_TYPE_COMPLETE;
     if ($version) {
       // Create the variable name, 'node_has_rows' or 'node_complete_exists' and
diff --git a/sites/default/default.settings.php b/sites/default/default.settings.php
index 1c8dbee9e7..992c08540f 100644
--- a/sites/default/default.settings.php
+++ b/sites/default/default.settings.php
@@ -741,6 +741,19 @@
  */
 $settings['entity_update_backup'] = TRUE;
 
+/**
+ * Migration node type.
+ *
+ * This is used to force the migration system to use the classic node migrations
+ * instead of the default complete node migrations. The migration system will
+ * use the classic node migration only if there are existing migrate_map tables
+ * for the classic node migrations and they contain data. These tables may not
+ * exist if you are developing custom migrations and do not want to use the
+ * complete node migrations. Set this to TRUE to force the use of the classic
+ * node migrations.
+ */
+$settings['migrate_node_migrate_type_classic'] = FALSE;
+
 /**
  * Load local development override configuration, if available.
  *