diff --git a/pkg/beyla/config.go b/pkg/beyla/config.go
index d0e1213a2..d3c5be6e1 100644
--- a/pkg/beyla/config.go
+++ b/pkg/beyla/config.go
@@ -253,8 +253,10 @@ func (c *Config) Validate() error {
 	if !c.EBPF.TCBackend.Valid() {
 		return ConfigError("Invalid BEYLA_BPF_TC_BACKEND value")
 	}
-	if err := tcmanager.EnsureCiliumCompatibility(c.EBPF.TCBackend); err != nil {
-		return ConfigError(fmt.Sprintf("Cilium compatibility error: %s", err.Error()))
+	if c.willUseTC() {
+		if err := tcmanager.EnsureCiliumCompatibility(c.EBPF.TCBackend); err != nil {
+			return ConfigError(fmt.Sprintf("Cilium compatibility error: %s", err.Error()))
+		}
 	}
 
 	if c.Attributes.Kubernetes.InformersSyncTimeout == 0 {
@@ -303,6 +305,10 @@ func (c *Config) otelNetO11yEnabled() bool {
 	return (c.Metrics.Enabled() || c.Grafana.OTLP.MetricsEnabled()) && c.Metrics.NetworkMetricsEnabled()
 }
 
+func (c *Config) willUseTC() bool {
+	return c.EBPF.ContextPropagationEnabled || (c.Enabled(FeatureNetO11y) && c.NetworkFlows.Source == EbpfSourceTC)
+}
+
 // Enabled checks if a given Beyla feature is enabled according to the global configuration
 func (c *Config) Enabled(feature Feature) bool {
 	switch feature {
diff --git a/pkg/beyla/config_test.go b/pkg/beyla/config_test.go
index bd899bfb1..7551961d9 100644
--- a/pkg/beyla/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/beyla/config_test.go
@@ -504,6 +504,24 @@ func TestDefaultExclusionFilter(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.True(t, c[0].Path.MatchString("/usr/bin/otelcol-contrib123"))
 }
 
+func TestWillUseTC(t *testing.T) {
+	env := envMap{"BEYLA_BPF_ENABLE_CONTEXT_PROPAGATION": "true"}
+	cfg := loadConfig(t, env)
+	assert.True(t, cfg.willUseTC())
+
+	env = envMap{"BEYLA_BPF_ENABLE_CONTEXT_PROPAGATION": "false"}
+	cfg = loadConfig(t, env)
+	assert.False(t, cfg.willUseTC())
+
+	env = envMap{"BEYLA_BPF_ENABLE_CONTEXT_PROPAGATION": "false", "BEYLA_NETWORK_METRICS": "true"}
+	cfg = loadConfig(t, env)
+	assert.False(t, cfg.willUseTC())
+
+	env = envMap{"BEYLA_BPF_ENABLE_CONTEXT_PROPAGATION": "false", "BEYLA_NETWORK_SOURCE": "tc", "BEYLA_NETWORK_METRICS": "true"}
+	cfg = loadConfig(t, env)
+	assert.True(t, cfg.willUseTC())
+}
+
 func loadConfig(t *testing.T, env envMap) *Config {
 	for k, v := range env {
 		require.NoError(t, os.Setenv(k, v))