diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index d3fd7758e166..92cf38f69efe 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -63,3 +63,4 @@
 - Use nested objects so fleet can handle metadata correctly {pull}18234[18234]
 - More clear output of inspect command {pull}18405[18405]
 - Pick up version from libbeat {pull}18350[18350]
+- Use shorter hash for application differentiator {pull}18770[18770]
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/execution_context.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/execution_context.go
index e627f9cfdd10..8d8493359a39 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/execution_context.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/execution_context.go
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 )
 
+const (
+	hashLen = 16
+)
+
 // ExecutionContext describes runnable binary
 type ExecutionContext struct {
 	BinaryName string
@@ -22,6 +26,9 @@ func NewExecutionContext(binaryName, version string, tags map[Tag]string) Execut
 	id := fmt.Sprintf("%s--%s", binaryName, version)
 	if len(tags) > 0 {
 		hash := fmt.Sprintf("%x", sha256.New().Sum([]byte(fmt.Sprint(tags))))
+		if len(hash) > hashLen {
+			hash = hash[:hashLen]
+		}
 		id += fmt.Sprintf("--%x", hash)
 	}