diff --git a/toolkit/config_modules.py b/toolkit/config_modules.py
index 8512eef..64c9ddd 100644
--- a/toolkit/config_modules.py
+++ b/toolkit/config_modules.py
@@ -915,6 +915,7 @@ class DatasetConfig:
     """
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        self.batch_size: Union[int, None] = kwargs.get('batch_size', None)
         self.type = kwargs.get('type', 'image')  # sd, slider, reference
         # will be legacy
         self.folder_path: str = kwargs.get('folder_path', None)
@@ -1504,7 +1505,4 @@ def validate_configs(
             raise ValueError(f"Cannot cache unload text encoder with {model_config.arch} model. Control images are encoded with text embeddings. You can cache the text embeddings though")
     
     if train_config.diff_output_preservation and train_config.blank_prompt_preservation:
-        raise ValueError("Cannot use both differential output preservation and blank prompt preservation at the same time. Please set one of them to False.")
-    
-    if train_config.batch_size > 1 and any(dataset_config.auto_frame_count for dataset_config in dataset_configs):
-        raise ValueError("Cannot use batch size greater than 1 with auto_frame_count. Please set batch_size to 1 or auto_frame_count to False.")
+        raise ValueError("Cannot use both differential output preservation and blank prompt preservation at the same time. Please set one of them to False.")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/toolkit/data_loader.py b/toolkit/data_loader.py
index 3e9773a..7be76be 100644
--- a/toolkit/data_loader.py
+++ b/toolkit/data_loader.py
@@ -704,7 +704,9 @@ def get_dataloader_from_datasets(
     for config in dataset_config_list:
 
         if config.type == 'image':
-            dataset = AiToolkitDataset(config, batch_size=batch_size, sd=sd)
+            # dataset level batch_size overrides the train config batch_size when set
+            dataset_batch_size = config.batch_size if config.batch_size is not None else batch_size
+            dataset = AiToolkitDataset(config, batch_size=dataset_batch_size, sd=sd)
             datasets.append(dataset)
             if config.buckets:
                 has_buckets = True
@@ -753,6 +755,13 @@ def get_dataloader_from_datasets(
             **dataloader_kwargs
         )
     else:
+        # without buckets the dataloader batches across all datasets at once,
+        # so a dataset level batch_size cannot apply
+        for config in dataset_config_list:
+            if config.batch_size is not None:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Dataset level batch_size requires buckets to be enabled. Dataset {config.folder_path or config.dataset_path} has buckets disabled."
+                )
         data_loader = DataLoader(
             concatenated_dataset,
             batch_size=batch_size,
diff --git a/ui/src/app/jobs/new/SimpleJob.tsx b/ui/src/app/jobs/new/SimpleJob.tsx
index d8c15e2..e82cd03 100644
--- a/ui/src/app/jobs/new/SimpleJob.tsx
+++ b/ui/src/app/jobs/new/SimpleJob.tsx
@@ -1232,6 +1232,17 @@ export default function SimpleJob({
                         placeholder="eg. 1"
                         docKey={'dataset.num_repeats'}
                       />
+                      <NumberInput
+                        label="Batch Size"
+                        value={dataset.batch_size ?? null}
+                        className="pt-2"
+                        onChange={value =>
+                          setJobConfig(value == null ? undefined : value, `config.process[0].datasets[${i}].batch_size`)
+                        }
+                        placeholder={`${jobConfig.config.process[0].train.batch_size}`}
+                        min={1}
+                        allowEmpty
+                      />
                     </div>
                     <div>
                       <TextInput
diff --git a/ui/src/components/formInputs.tsx b/ui/src/components/formInputs.tsx
index 77ed7e1..5c39edd 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/formInputs.tsx
+++ b/ui/src/components/formInputs.tsx
@@ -152,10 +152,12 @@ export interface NumberInputProps extends InputProps {
   onChange: (value: number | null) => void;
   min?: number;
   max?: number;
+  // when true, clearing the input calls onChange(null) instead of being ignored
+  allowEmpty?: boolean;
 }
 
 export const NumberInput = (props: NumberInputProps) => {
-  const { label, value, onChange, placeholder, required, min, max, docKey = null } = props;
+  const { label, value, onChange, placeholder, required, min, max, allowEmpty, docKey = null } = props;
   let { doc } = props;
   if (!doc && docKey) {
     doc = getDoc(docKey);
@@ -193,6 +195,9 @@ export const NumberInput = (props: NumberInputProps) => {
           // Handle empty or partial inputs
           if (rawValue === '' || rawValue === '-') {
             // For empty or partial negative input, don't call onChange yet
+            if (rawValue === '' && allowEmpty) {
+              onChange(null);
+            }
             return;
           }
 
diff --git a/ui/src/types.ts b/ui/src/types.ts
index 53cca38..bcb27c0 100644
--- a/ui/src/types.ts
+++ b/ui/src/types.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ export interface SaveConfig {
 }
 
 export interface DatasetConfig {
+  batch_size?: number;
   folder_path: string;
   mask_path: string | null;
   mask_min_value: number;