diff --git a/packages/config/src/config/render.js b/packages/config/src/config/render.js
index 15d82a5b53..1f9087996d 100644
--- a/packages/config/src/config/render.js
+++ b/packages/config/src/config/render.js
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 export default () => ({
   bundleRenderer: {
     shouldPrefetch: () => false,
-    shouldPreload: (fileWithoutQuery, asType) => ['script', 'style'].includes(asType)
+    shouldPreload: (fileWithoutQuery, asType) => ['script', 'style'].includes(asType),
+    runInNewContext: undefined
   },
   resourceHints: true,
   ssr: undefined,
diff --git a/packages/config/src/options.js b/packages/config/src/options.js
index 0d6b0a8ea0..3e4367b3bb 100644
--- a/packages/config/src/options.js
+++ b/packages/config/src/options.js
@@ -341,5 +341,11 @@ export function getNuxtConfig(_options) {
     consola.level = 0
   }
 
+  // Use runInNewContext for dev mode by default
+  const { bundleRenderer } = options.render
+  if (typeof bundleRenderer.runInNewContext === 'undefined') {
+    bundleRenderer.runInNewContext = options.dev
+  }
+
   return options
 }
diff --git a/packages/vue-renderer/src/renderer.js b/packages/vue-renderer/src/renderer.js
index 5442b1c998..6d1d3fa99c 100644
--- a/packages/vue-renderer/src/renderer.js
+++ b/packages/vue-renderer/src/renderer.js
@@ -244,7 +244,6 @@ export default class VueRenderer {
     const hasModules = fs.existsSync(path.resolve(this.context.options.rootDir, 'node_modules'))
 
     const rendererOptions = {
-      runInNewContext: false,
       clientManifest: this.context.resources.clientManifest,
       // for globally installed nuxt command, search dependencies in global dir
       basedir: hasModules ? this.context.options.rootDir : __dirname,