diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 17bbe528eca2..511624a3276e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ All notable changes to Sourcegraph are documented in this file.
 - Backend Code Insights will aggregate viewable repositories based on the authenticated user. [#22471](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22471)
 - Added support for highlighting .frugal files as Thrift syntax.
 - Added `file:contains.content(regexp)` predicate, which filters only to files that contain matches of the given pattern. [#22666](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22666)
-- Repository syncing can now be done in a streaming mode via the `ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER` environment variable in `repo-updater`. Customers with many repositories should notice code host updates much faster when this is enabled. It will become default in the next release. [#22756](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22756)
+- Repository syncing is now done in streaming mode by default. Customers with many repositories should notice code host updates much faster, with repo-updater consuming less memory. Using the previous batch mode can be done by setting the `ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER` environment variable to `false` in `repo-updater`. That environment variable will be deleted in the next release. [#22756](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22756)
 - Enabled the ability to query Batch Changes changesets, changesets stats, and file diff stats for an individual repository via the Sourcegraph GraphQL API. [#22744](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22744/)
 - Added "Groovy" to the initial `lang:` filter suggestions in the search bar. [#22755](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22755)
 - The `lang:` filter suggestions now show all supported, matching languages as the user types a language name. [#22765](https://github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pull/22765)
diff --git a/cmd/repo-updater/shared/main.go b/cmd/repo-updater/shared/main.go
index 86968b8cf3cf..eb8fd6cb4889 100644
--- a/cmd/repo-updater/shared/main.go
+++ b/cmd/repo-updater/shared/main.go
@@ -242,11 +242,11 @@ func Main(enterpriseInit EnterpriseInit) {
 		Logger:     log15.Root(),
 		Now:        clock,
 		Registerer: prometheus.DefaultRegisterer,
-		Streaming:  os.Getenv("ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER") == "true",
+		Streaming:  os.Getenv("ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER") != "false",
 	}
 
 	if syncer.Streaming {
-		log15.Info("Running syncer in streaming mode because ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER is set to true ")
+		log15.Info("Running syncer in streaming mode because ENABLE_STREAMING_REPOS_SYNCER != false")
 	}
 
 	var gps *repos.GitolitePhabricatorMetadataSyncer