diff --git a/cmd/otel-allocator/config/config.go b/cmd/otel-allocator/config/config.go
index d91b057e19..c2d716b9de 100644
--- a/cmd/otel-allocator/config/config.go
+++ b/cmd/otel-allocator/config/config.go
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ func unmarshal(cfg *Config, configFile string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err = yaml.UnmarshalStrict(yamlFile, cfg); err != nil {
+	if err = yaml.Unmarshal(yamlFile, cfg); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error unmarshaling YAML: %w", err)
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/cmd/otel-allocator/config/testdata/no_config.yaml b/cmd/otel-allocator/config/testdata/no_config.yaml
index e69de29bb2..9fa8275cec 100644
--- a/cmd/otel-allocator/config/testdata/no_config.yaml
+++ b/cmd/otel-allocator/config/testdata/no_config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# this is some random data to check if we skip unknown fields instead of rejecting them
+some_key: some_value