diff --git a/.changeset/forty-pets-wave.md b/.changeset/forty-pets-wave.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1b96867e7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/forty-pets-wave.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-catalog': patch
+---
+
+Fixed a bug where the `filter` setting of the collator was not permitted to be an array.
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/config.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/config.ts
index afc94052df..4bdffc52c5 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/config.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/config.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export function readCollatorConfigOptions(configRoot: Config): {
       config.getOptionalString('locationTemplate') ??
       defaults.collatorOptions.locationTemplate,
     filter:
-      config.getOptionalConfig('filter')?.get<EntityFilterQuery>() ??
+      config.getOptional<EntityFilterQuery>('filter') ??
       defaults.collatorOptions.filter,
     batchSize:
       config.getOptionalNumber('batchSize') ??