diff --git a/go/flags/endtoend/vtgate.txt b/go/flags/endtoend/vtgate.txt
index 50ca4b56dd2..8bfc1983b98 100644
--- a/go/flags/endtoend/vtgate.txt
+++ b/go/flags/endtoend/vtgate.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 Usage of vtgate:
       --allowed_tablet_types strings                                     Specifies the tablet types this vtgate is allowed to route queries to. Should be provided as a comma-separated set of tablet types.
       --alsologtostderr                                                  log to standard error as well as files
-      --balancer_enabled                                                 Whether to enable the tablet balancer to evenly spread query load
-      --balancer_keyspaces strings                                       When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of keyspaces for which to use the balancer (optional)
-      --balancer_vtgate_cells strings                                    When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of cells that contain vtgates (required)
+      --balancer-keyspaces strings                                       When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of keyspaces for which to use the balancer (optional)
+      --balancer-vtgate-cells strings                                    When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of cells that contain vtgates (required)
       --buffer_drain_concurrency int                                     Maximum number of requests retried simultaneously. More concurrency will increase the load on the PRIMARY vttablet when draining the buffer. (default 1)
       --buffer_implementation string                                     Allowed values: healthcheck (legacy implementation), keyspace_events (default) (default "keyspace_events")
       --buffer_keyspace_shards string                                    If not empty, limit buffering to these entries (comma separated). Entry format: keyspace or keyspace/shard. Requires --enable_buffer=true.
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ Usage of vtgate:
       --discovery_high_replication_lag_minimum_serving duration          Threshold above which replication lag is considered too high when applying the min_number_serving_vttablets flag. (default 2h0m0s)
       --discovery_low_replication_lag duration                           Threshold below which replication lag is considered low enough to be healthy. (default 30s)
       --emit_stats                                                       If set, emit stats to push-based monitoring and stats backends
+      --enable-balancer                                                  Enable the tablet balancer to evenly spread query load for a given tablet type
       --enable-partial-keyspace-migration                                (Experimental) Follow shard routing rules: enable only while migrating a keyspace shard by shard. See documentation on Partial MoveTables for more. (default false)
       --enable_buffer                                                    Enable buffering (stalling) of primary traffic during failovers.
       --enable_buffer_dry_run                                            Detect and log failover events, but do not actually buffer requests.
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go b/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
index 89431a43212..98867424770 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@ func init() {
 		fs.DurationVar(&initialTabletTimeout, "gateway_initial_tablet_timeout", 30*time.Second, "At startup, the tabletGateway will wait up to this duration to get at least one tablet per keyspace/shard/tablet type")
 		fs.IntVar(&retryCount, "retry-count", 2, "retry count")
 		fs.BoolVar(&routeReplicaToRdonly, "gateway_route_replica_to_rdonly", false, "route REPLICA queries to RDONLY tablets as well as REPLICA tablets")
-		fs.BoolVar(&balancerEnabled, "balancer_enabled", false, "Whether to enable the tablet balancer to evenly spread query load")
-		fs.StringSliceVar(&balancerVtgateCells, "balancer_vtgate_cells", []string{}, "When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of cells that contain vtgates (required)")
-		fs.StringSliceVar(&balancerKeyspaces, "balancer_keyspaces", []string{}, "When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of keyspaces for which to use the balancer (optional)")
+		fs.BoolVar(&balancerEnabled, "enable-balancer", false, "Enable the tablet balancer to evenly spread query load for a given tablet type")
+		fs.StringSliceVar(&balancerVtgateCells, "balancer-vtgate-cells", []string{}, "When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of cells that contain vtgates (required)")
+		fs.StringSliceVar(&balancerKeyspaces, "balancer-keyspaces", []string{}, "When in balanced mode, a comma-separated list of keyspaces for which to use the balancer (optional)")
 	})
 }