diff --git a/tests/docker/ducktape-deps/client-swarm b/tests/docker/ducktape-deps/client-swarm
index 1b30ada884f0c..3f74dbba5e949 100644
--- a/tests/docker/ducktape-deps/client-swarm
+++ b/tests/docker/ducktape-deps/client-swarm
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ git clone https://github.com/redpanda-data/client-swarm.git
 
 pushd client-swarm
 git reset --hard 7ba96b8a78717c03392a3959a31e3c5a36cda472
-cargo build --config 'term.verbose=true' --release
+cargo build --config 'term.verbose=true' --config 'net.retry=6' --release
 cp target/release/client-swarm /usr/local/bin
 popd