diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
index 2af249a8e96..99460a48835 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-servers/tomcat.nix
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ with lib;
 let
 
   cfg = config.services.tomcat;
-  tomcat = pkgs.tomcat7;
+  tomcat = cfg.package;
 in
 
 {
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ in
         description = "Whether to enable Apache Tomcat";
       };
 
+      package = mkOption {
+        type = types.package;
+        default = pkgs.tomcat7;
+        example = lib.literalExample "pkgs.tomcat8";
+        description = ''
+          Which tomcat package to use.
+        '';
+      };
+
       baseDir = mkOption {
         default = "/var/tomcat";
         description = "Location where Tomcat stores configuration files, webapplications and logfiles";