diff --git a/changelog/fragments/1761335496-show-subsections.yaml b/changelog/fragments/1761335496-show-subsections.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..459767a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/fragments/1761335496-show-subsections.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# REQUIRED
+# Kind can be one of:
+# - breaking-change: a change to previously-documented behavior
+# - deprecation: functionality that is being removed in a later release
+# - bug-fix: fixes a problem in a previous version
+# - enhancement: extends functionality but does not break or fix existing behavior
+# - feature: new functionality
+# - known-issue: problems that we are aware of in a given version
+# - security: impacts on the security of a product or a user’s deployment.
+# - upgrade: important information for someone upgrading from a prior version
+# - other: does not fit into any of the other categories
+kind: feature
+
+# REQUIRED for all kinds
+# Change summary; a 80ish characters long description of the change.
+summary: Add a new `subsections` configuration option that specifies whether to show `component`s as subsections in rendered release notes.
+
+# REQUIRED for breaking-change, deprecation, known-issue
+# Long description; in case the summary is not enough to describe the change
+# this field accommodate a description without length limits.
+description: This should be set to `true` in repos with multiple `component`s. For example, the Beats repo, which contains changelog entries for multiple `component`s like `filebeat`, `metricbeat`, etc.
+
+# REQUIRED for breaking-change, deprecation, known-issue
+# impact:
+
+# REQUIRED for breaking-change, deprecation, known-issue
+# action:
+
+# REQUIRED for all kinds
+# Affected component; usually one of "elastic-agent", "fleet-server", "filebeat", "metricbeat", "auditbeat", "all", etc.
+component:
+
+# AUTOMATED
+# OPTIONAL to manually add other PR URLs
+# PR URL: A link the PR that added the changeset.
+# If not present is automatically filled by the tooling finding the PR where this changelog fragment has been added.
+# NOTE: the tooling supports backports, so it's able to fill the original PR number instead of the backport PR number.
+# Please provide it if you are adding a fragment for a different PR.
+pr:
+  - https://github.com/elastic/elastic-agent-changelog-tool/pull/221
+
+# AUTOMATED
+# OPTIONAL to manually add other issue URLs
+# Issue URL; optional; the GitHub issue related to this changeset (either closes or is part of).
+# If not present is automatically filled by the tooling with the issue linked to the PR number.
+# issue: https://github.com/owner/repo/1234
diff --git a/cmd/render.go b/cmd/render.go
index 51399f5..781071a 100644
--- a/cmd/render.go
+++ b/cmd/render.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ var RenderLongDescription = `Use this command to render the consolidated changel
 func RenderCmd(fs afero.Fs) *cobra.Command {
 	renderCmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "render",
-		Short: "Render a changelog in an asciidoc file",
+		Short: "Render a changelog in an AsciiDoc or Markdown file",
 		Long:  RenderLongDescription,
 		Args: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			return nil
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ func RenderCmd(fs afero.Fs) *cobra.Command {
 			dest := viper.GetString("changelog_destination")
 			renderedDest := viper.GetString("rendered_changelog_destination")
 			repo := viper.GetString("repo")
+			subsections := viper.GetBool("subsections")
 
 			version, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("version")
 			if err != nil {
@@ -54,25 +55,25 @@ func RenderCmd(fs afero.Fs) *cobra.Command {
 			}
 
 			if file_type == "asciidoc" {
-				r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "asciidoc-embedded", repo)
+				r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "asciidoc-embedded", repo, subsections)
 				if err := r.Render(); err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("cannot build asciidoc file: %w", err)
 				}
 			} else if file_type == "markdown" {
-				r_index := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-index", repo)
+				r_index := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-index", repo, subsections)
 				if err := r_index.Render(); err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("cannot build markdown file: %w", err)
 				}
-				r_breaking := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-breaking", repo)
+				r_breaking := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-breaking", repo, subsections)
 				if err := r_breaking.Render(); err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("cannot build markdown file: %w", err)
 				}
-				r_deprecations := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-deprecations", repo)
+				r_deprecations := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, "markdown-deprecations", repo, subsections)
 				if err := r_deprecations.Render(); err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("cannot build markdown file: %w", err)
 				}
 			} else {
-				r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, template, repo)
+				r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, renderedDest, template, repo, subsections)
 				if err := r.Render(); err != nil {
 					return fmt.Errorf("cannot build file: %w", err)
 				}
diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index f108bf7..cd88b47 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ When generating Markdown files, at a minimum you should set the following settin
 | `owner` (required) | `elastic` | The owner of the GitHub repo. |
 | `repo` (required) | ‒ | The name of the GitHub repo. |
 | `rendered_changelog_destination` | `changelog` | The directory where you want to put the generated files.<br><br>When generating Markdown files, this should probably be `docs/release-notes/_snippets`. |
+| `subsections` | `false` | Whether to show `component`s as subsections in rendered release notes. This should be set to `true` in repos with multiple `component`s (for example, Beats). |
 
 ## Supported Environment Variables
 
diff --git a/internal/assets/markdown-breaking-template.md.tmpl b/internal/assets/markdown-breaking-template.md.tmpl
index 5a2db49..ad1b298 100644
--- a/internal/assets/markdown-breaking-template.md.tmpl
+++ b/internal/assets/markdown-breaking-template.md.tmpl
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 ## {{.Version}} [{{.Repo}}-{{.Version}}-breaking-changes]
-{{ if .BreakingChange -}}{{ range $k, $v := .BreakingChange }}{{ range $item := $v }}
+{{ if .BreakingChange -}}{{ range $k, $v := .BreakingChange }}{{ $k | header2 }}{{ range $item := $v }}
+
 ::::{dropdown} {{ $item.Summary | beautify }}
-{{ if $item.Description }}{{ $item.Description }}{{ end }}
+{{ if $item.Description }}{{ $item.Description }}{{ else }}% Describe the functionality that changed{{ end }}
 
 For more information, check {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }}{{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}.
 
diff --git a/internal/assets/markdown-deprecations-template.md.tmpl b/internal/assets/markdown-deprecations-template.md.tmpl
index cf5d066..bdd0219 100644
--- a/internal/assets/markdown-deprecations-template.md.tmpl
+++ b/internal/assets/markdown-deprecations-template.md.tmpl
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ## {{.Version}} [{{.Repo}}-{{.Version}}-deprecations]
-{{ if .Deprecation -}}{{ range $k, $v := .Deprecation }}{{ range $item := $v }}
+{{ if .Deprecation -}}{{ range $k, $v := .Deprecation }}{{ $k | header2 }}{{ range $item := $v }}
 
 ::::{dropdown} {{ $item.Summary | beautify }}
-{{ if $item.Description }}{{ $item.Description }}{{ end }}
+{{ if $item.Description }}{{ $item.Description }}{{ else }}% Describe the functionality that was deprecated{{ end }}
 
 For more information, check {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }}{{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}.
 
diff --git a/internal/assets/markdown-index-template.md.tmpl b/internal/assets/markdown-index-template.md.tmpl
index 3ea38be..be5dbc0 100644
--- a/internal/assets/markdown-index-template.md.tmpl
+++ b/internal/assets/markdown-index-template.md.tmpl
@@ -1,30 +1,24 @@
 ## {{.Version}} [{{.Repo}}-release-notes-{{.Version}}]
 {{ if or .KnownIssue .BreakingChange .Deprecation }}
 {{ other_links }}{{- end }}
-{{ if or .Feature .Enhancement .Security .BugFix }}{{ if or .Feature .Enhancement }}
+{{ if or .Feature .Enhancement .Security .BugFix }}
+{{ if or .Feature .Enhancement }}
 ### Features and enhancements [{{.Repo}}-{{.Version}}-features-enhancements]
-{{ if .Feature }}{{ range $k, $v := .Feature }}{{ range $item := $v }}
-* {{ $item.Summary | beautify }} {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }} {{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}{{ if $item.Description }}
-{{ $item.Description | indent }}
-{{- end }}
-{{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}{{ if .Enhancement }}{{ range $k, $v := .Enhancement }}{{ range $item := $v }}
+{{ $additions := combine .Feature .Enhancement }}{{ range $k, $v := $additions }}{{ header2 $k }}
+{{ range $item := $v }}
 * {{ $item.Summary | beautify }} {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }} {{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}{{ if $item.Description }}
 {{ $item.Description | indent }}
 {{- end }}
 {{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}
-{{- end }}
 
 {{ if or .Security .BugFix }}
 ### Fixes [{{.Repo}}-{{.Version}}-fixes]
-{{ if .Security }}{{ range $k, $v := .Security }}{{ range $item := $v }}
+{{ $fixes := combine .Security .BugFix }}{{ range $k, $v := $fixes }}{{ header2 $k }}
+{{ range $item := $v }}
 * {{ $item.Summary | beautify }} {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }} {{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}{{ if $item.Description }}
 {{ $item.Description | indent }}
 {{- end }}
-{{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}{{ if .BugFix }}{{ range $k, $v := .BugFix }}{{ range $item := $v }}
-* {{ $item.Summary | beautify }} {{ linkPRSource $item.Component $item.LinkedPR }} {{ linkIssueSource $item.Component $item.LinkedIssue }}{{ if $item.Description }}
-{{ $item.Description | indent }}
-{{- end }}
-{{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}
+{{- end }}{{- end }}{{- end }}
 {{ else }}
 _No new features, enhancements, or fixes._
 {{- end }}
diff --git a/internal/changelog/renderer.go b/internal/changelog/renderer.go
index bfa7d43..fcb25ef 100644
--- a/internal/changelog/renderer.go
+++ b/internal/changelog/renderer.go
@@ -23,18 +23,20 @@ type Renderer struct {
 	changelog Changelog
 	fs        afero.Fs
 	// dest is the destination location where the changelog is written to
-	dest  string
-	templ string
-	repo  string
+	dest        string
+	templ       string
+	repo        string
+	subsections bool
 }
 
-func NewRenderer(fs afero.Fs, c Changelog, dest string, templ string, repo string) *Renderer {
+func NewRenderer(fs afero.Fs, c Changelog, dest string, templ string, repo string, subsections bool) *Renderer {
 	return &Renderer{
-		changelog: c,
-		fs:        fs,
-		dest:      dest,
-		templ:     templ,
-		repo:      repo,
+		changelog:   c,
+		fs:          fs,
+		dest:        dest,
+		templ:       templ,
+		repo:        repo,
+		subsections: subsections,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -47,11 +49,12 @@ func (r Renderer) Render() error {
 	}
 
 	type TemplateData struct {
-		Component string
-		Version   string
-		Repo      string
-		Changelog Changelog
-		Kinds     map[Kind]bool
+		Component   string
+		Version     string
+		Repo        string
+		Changelog   Changelog
+		Kinds       map[Kind]bool
+		Subsections bool
 
 		// In Markdown, this goes to release notes
 		Enhancement map[string][]Entry
@@ -75,6 +78,7 @@ func (r Renderer) Render() error {
 		r.repo,
 		r.changelog,
 		collectKinds(r.changelog.Entries),
+		r.subsections,
 		// In Markdown, this goes to release notes
 		collectByKindMap(r.changelog.Entries, Enhancement),
 		collectByKindMap(r.changelog.Entries, Feature),
@@ -159,15 +163,33 @@ func (r Renderer) Render() error {
 				if len(links) > 0 {
 					return fmt.Sprintf(
 						"_This release also includes: %s._",
-						strings.Join(links, " and"),
+						strings.Join(links, " and "),
 					)
 				} else {
 					return ""
 				}
 			},
 			// Ensure components have section styling
-			"header2": func(s1 string) string {
-				return fmt.Sprintf("**%s**", s1)
+			"header2": func(s string) string {
+				if r.subsections {
+					s = strings.ToUpper(string(s[0])) + s[1:]
+					s = strings.ReplaceAll(s, "-", " ")
+					return fmt.Sprintf("\n\n**%s**", s)
+				} else {
+					return ""
+				}
+			},
+			"combine": func(map1 map[string][]Entry, map2 map[string][]Entry) map[string][]Entry {
+				combinedMap := make(map[string][]Entry)
+				// Start with a copy of map1 entries
+				for k, v := range map1 {
+					combinedMap[k] = append([]Entry{}, v...)
+				}
+				// Merge entries from map2, appending to any existing entries
+				for k, v := range map2 {
+					combinedMap[k] = append(combinedMap[k], v...)
+				}
+				return combinedMap
 			},
 		}).
 		Parse(string(tpl))
diff --git a/internal/changelog/renderer_test.go b/internal/changelog/renderer_test.go
index a9f5f81..5b06fb3 100644
--- a/internal/changelog/renderer_test.go
+++ b/internal/changelog/renderer_test.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ func TestRenderer(t *testing.T) {
 	filename := "0.0.0.yaml"
 	src := "testdata"
 	dest := viper.GetString("changelog_destination")
+	subsections := viper.GetBool("subsections")
 
 	t.Log("building changelog from test fragments")
 	builder := changelog.NewBuilder(fs, filename, "0.0.0", src, dest)
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ func TestRenderer(t *testing.T) {
 	c, err := changelog.FromFile(fs, inFile)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, dest, "asciidoc-embedded", "elastic-agent")
+	r := changelog.NewRenderer(fs, c, dest, "asciidoc-embedded", "elastic-agent", subsections)
 
 	err = r.Render()
 	require.Nil(t, err)
diff --git a/internal/settings/settings.go b/internal/settings/settings.go
index 4dc335c..5f47821 100644
--- a/internal/settings/settings.go
+++ b/internal/settings/settings.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ func setDefaults() {
 	viper.SetDefault("changelog_destination", "changelog")
 	viper.SetDefault("rendered_changelog_destination", "changelog")
 	viper.SetDefault("file_type", "markdown")
+	viper.SetDefault("subsections", false)
 	viper.SetDefault("template", "asciidoc-embedded")
 }