diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e5b9ce8959a..9fd47b9fe03 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ option (Seastar_SSTRING
   "Use seastar's own string implementation"
   ON)
 
+option (Seastar_DEPRECATED_OSTREAM_FORMATTERS
+  "Enable operator<< for formatting standard library containers, which will be deprecated in future"
+  ON)
+
 set (Seastar_API_LEVEL
   "7"
   CACHE
@@ -927,6 +931,11 @@ if (Seastar_SSTRING)
     PUBLIC SEASTAR_SSTRING)
 endif ()
 
+if (Seastar_DEPRECATED_OSTREAM_FORMATTERS)
+  target_compile_definitions (seastar
+    PUBLIC SEASTAR_DEPRECATED_OSTREAM_FORMATTERS)
+endif ()
+
 if (LinuxMembarrier_FOUND)
   list (APPEND Seastar_PRIVATE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS SEASTAR_HAS_MEMBARRIER)
 
diff --git a/include/seastar/core/sstring.hh b/include/seastar/core/sstring.hh
index 3add17492e5..d6e0de46eae 100644
--- a/include/seastar/core/sstring.hh
+++ b/include/seastar/core/sstring.hh
@@ -836,10 +836,13 @@ string_type to_sstring(T value) {
 }
 }
 
+#ifdef SEASTAR_DEPRECATED_OSTREAM_FORMATTERS
+
 namespace std {
 
 SEASTAR_MODULE_EXPORT
 template <typename T>
+[[deprecated("Use {fmt} instead")]]
 inline
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::vector<T>& v) {
     bool first = true;
@@ -858,6 +861,7 @@ std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::vector<T>& v) {
 
 SEASTAR_MODULE_EXPORT
 template <typename Key, typename T, typename Hash, typename KeyEqual, typename Allocator>
+[[deprecated("Use {fmt} instead")]]
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::unordered_map<Key, T, Hash, KeyEqual, Allocator>& v) {
     bool first = true;
     os << "{";
@@ -874,6 +878,8 @@ std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::unordered_map<Key, T, Hash
 }
 }
 
+#endif
+
 #if FMT_VERSION >= 90000
 
 // Due to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/68849, we inherit