diff --git a/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/templates/master.yaml b/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/templates/master.yaml
index 76262a3f0..8a62d385a 100644
--- a/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/templates/master.yaml
+++ b/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/templates/master.yaml
@@ -78,7 +78,12 @@ spec:
             {{- if .Values.master.extraLabelNs | empty | not }}
             - "--extra-label-ns={{- join "," .Values.master.extraLabelNs }}"
             {{- end }}
+            {{- if .Values.master.featureRulesController | kindIs "invalid" | not }}
             - "-featurerules-controller={{ .Values.master.featureRulesController }}"
+            {{- else }}
+            ## By default, disable NodeFeatureRules controller for other than the default instances
+            - "-featurerules-controller={{ .Values.master.instance | empty }}"
+            {{- end }}
     {{- if .Values.tls.enable }}
             - "--ca-file=/etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/certs/ca.crt"
             - "--key-file=/etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/certs/tls.key"
diff --git a/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/values.yaml b/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/values.yaml
index 6f68417c9..68ee75e3b 100644
--- a/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/values.yaml
+++ b/deployment/helm/node-feature-discovery/values.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ nodeFeatureRule:
 master:
   instance:
   extraLabelNs: []
-  featureRulesController: true
+  featureRulesController: null
 
   replicaCount: 1
 
diff --git a/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md b/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
index 500f4a5d4..693e362d7 100644
--- a/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
+++ b/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ We have introduced the following Chart parameters.
 | `master.*`                  | dict    |                                         | NFD master deployment configuration                                                                                                      |
 | `master.instance`           | string  |                                         | Instance name. Used to separate annotation namespaces for multiple parallel deployments                                                  |
 | `master.extraLabelNs`       | array   | []                                      | List of allowed extra label namespaces                                                                                                   |
-| `master.featureRulesController` | bool | True                                   | Specifies whether the controller for  processing of NodeFeatureRule objects is enable.                                                   |
+| `master.featureRulesController` | bool | null                                   | Specifies whether the controller for processing of NodeFeatureRule objects is enabled. If not set, controller will be enabled if `master.instance` is empty.
 | `master.replicaCount`       | integer | 1                                       | Number of desired pods. This is a pointer to distinguish between explicit zero and not specified                                         |
 | `master.podSecurityContext` | dict    | {}                                      | SecurityContext holds pod-level security attributes and common container settings                                                        |
 | `master.serviceAccount.create` | bool | true                                    | Specifies whether a service account should be created