diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 463488b6..4ad3fef3 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.17.1"
+  ".": "0.18.0"
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 53df7203..b913c343 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.18.0 (2024-04-08)
+
+Full Changelog: [v0.17.1...v0.18.0](https://github.com/Finch-API/finch-api-python/compare/v0.17.1...v0.18.0)
+
+### Features
+
+* **client:** add DefaultHttpxClient and DefaultAsyncHttpxClient ([#342](https://github.com/Finch-API/finch-api-python/issues/342)) ([399b634](https://github.com/Finch-API/finch-api-python/commit/399b634a14156f5d6cba68ed3cc74f49edf1920c))
+
 ## 0.17.1 (2024-04-04)
 
 Full Changelog: [v0.17.0...v0.17.1](https://github.com/Finch-API/finch-api-python/compare/v0.17.0...v0.17.1)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8e807ac0..d83b21ef 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -380,13 +380,12 @@ You can directly override the [httpx client](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#c
 - Additional [advanced](https://www.python-httpx.org/advanced/#client-instances) functionality
 
 ```python
-import httpx
-from finch import Finch
+from finch import Finch, DefaultHttpxClient
 
 client = Finch(
     # Or use the `FINCH_BASE_URL` env var
     base_url="http://my.test.server.example.com:8083",
-    http_client=httpx.Client(
+    http_client=DefaultHttpxClient(
         proxies="http://my.test.proxy.example.com",
         transport=httpx.HTTPTransport(local_address="0.0.0.0"),
     ),
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2d143e28..92ecf7d4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "finch-api"
-version = "0.17.1"
+version = "0.18.0"
 description = "The official Python library for the Finch API"
 dynamic = ["readme"]
 license = "Apache-2.0"
diff --git a/src/finch/__init__.py b/src/finch/__init__.py
index 61b87181..0ca73426 100644
--- a/src/finch/__init__.py
+++ b/src/finch/__init__.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     UnprocessableEntityError,
     APIResponseValidationError,
 )
+from ._base_client import DefaultHttpxClient, DefaultAsyncHttpxClient
 from ._utils._logs import setup_logging as _setup_logging
 
 __all__ = [
@@ -62,6 +63,8 @@
     "DEFAULT_TIMEOUT",
     "DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES",
     "DEFAULT_CONNECTION_LIMITS",
+    "DefaultHttpxClient",
+    "DefaultAsyncHttpxClient",
 ]
 
 _setup_logging()
diff --git a/src/finch/_base_client.py b/src/finch/_base_client.py
index ebf39f15..b936cf2b 100644
--- a/src/finch/_base_client.py
+++ b/src/finch/_base_client.py
@@ -716,7 +716,27 @@ def _idempotency_key(self) -> str:
         return f"stainless-python-retry-{uuid.uuid4()}"
 
 
-class SyncHttpxClientWrapper(httpx.Client):
+class _DefaultHttpxClient(httpx.Client):
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
+        kwargs.setdefault("timeout", DEFAULT_TIMEOUT)
+        kwargs.setdefault("limits", DEFAULT_CONNECTION_LIMITS)
+        kwargs.setdefault("follow_redirects", True)
+        super().__init__(**kwargs)
+
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    DefaultHttpxClient = httpx.Client
+    """An alias to `httpx.Client` that provides the same defaults that this SDK
+    uses internally.
+
+    This is useful because overriding the `http_client` with your own instance of
+    `httpx.Client` will result in httpx's defaults being used, not ours.
+    """
+else:
+    DefaultHttpxClient = _DefaultHttpxClient
+
+
+class SyncHttpxClientWrapper(DefaultHttpxClient):
     def __del__(self) -> None:
         try:
             self.close()
@@ -1262,7 +1282,27 @@ def get_api_list(
         return self._request_api_list(model, page, opts)
 
 
-class AsyncHttpxClientWrapper(httpx.AsyncClient):
+class _DefaultAsyncHttpxClient(httpx.AsyncClient):
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
+        kwargs.setdefault("timeout", DEFAULT_TIMEOUT)
+        kwargs.setdefault("limits", DEFAULT_CONNECTION_LIMITS)
+        kwargs.setdefault("follow_redirects", True)
+        super().__init__(**kwargs)
+
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    DefaultAsyncHttpxClient = httpx.AsyncClient
+    """An alias to `httpx.AsyncClient` that provides the same defaults that this SDK
+    uses internally.
+
+    This is useful because overriding the `http_client` with your own instance of
+    `httpx.AsyncClient` will result in httpx's defaults being used, not ours.
+    """
+else:
+    DefaultAsyncHttpxClient = _DefaultAsyncHttpxClient
+
+
+class AsyncHttpxClientWrapper(DefaultAsyncHttpxClient):
     def __del__(self) -> None:
         try:
             # TODO(someday): support non asyncio runtimes here
diff --git a/src/finch/_client.py b/src/finch/_client.py
index 38ed6d91..246de6a3 100644
--- a/src/finch/_client.py
+++ b/src/finch/_client.py
@@ -85,7 +85,9 @@ def __init__(
         max_retries: int = DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES,
         default_headers: Mapping[str, str] | None = None,
         default_query: Mapping[str, object] | None = None,
-        # Configure a custom httpx client. See the [httpx documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client) for more details.
+        # Configure a custom httpx client.
+        # We provide a `DefaultHttpxClient` class that you can pass to retain the default values we use for `limits`, `timeout` & `follow_redirects`.
+        # See the [httpx documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client) for more details.
         http_client: httpx.Client | None = None,
         # See httpx documentation for [custom transports](https://www.python-httpx.org/advanced/#custom-transports)
         transport: Transport | None = None,
@@ -433,7 +435,9 @@ def __init__(
         max_retries: int = DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES,
         default_headers: Mapping[str, str] | None = None,
         default_query: Mapping[str, object] | None = None,
-        # Configure a custom httpx client. See the [httpx documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#asyncclient) for more details.
+        # Configure a custom httpx client.
+        # We provide a `DefaultAsyncHttpxClient` class that you can pass to retain the default values we use for `limits`, `timeout` & `follow_redirects`.
+        # See the [httpx documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#asyncclient) for more details.
         http_client: httpx.AsyncClient | None = None,
         # See httpx documentation for [custom transports](https://www.python-httpx.org/advanced/#custom-transports)
         transport: AsyncTransport | None = None,
diff --git a/src/finch/_version.py b/src/finch/_version.py
index ddac6293..4c105f7f 100644
--- a/src/finch/_version.py
+++ b/src/finch/_version.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # File generated from our OpenAPI spec by Stainless. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
 
 __title__ = "finch"
-__version__ = "0.17.1"  # x-release-please-version
+__version__ = "0.18.0"  # x-release-please-version