diff --git a/commands/commandeer.go b/commands/commandeer.go
index 0052d91b4..82d684153 100644
--- a/commands/commandeer.go
+++ b/commands/commandeer.go
@@ -203,9 +203,6 @@ func (r *rootCommand) ConfigFromProvider(key int32, cfg config.Provider) (*commo
 			cfg = config.New()
 		}
 
-		if !cfg.IsSet("renderToDisk") {
-			cfg.Set("renderToDisk", true)
-		}
 		if !cfg.IsSet("workingDir") {
 			cfg.Set("workingDir", dir)
 		} else {
@@ -239,9 +236,7 @@ func (r *rootCommand) ConfigFromProvider(key int32, cfg config.Provider) (*commo
 
 		sourceFs := hugofs.Os
 		var destinationFs afero.Fs
-		if cfg.GetBool("renderToDisk") {
-			destinationFs = hugofs.Os
-		} else {
+		if cfg.GetBool("renderToMemory") {
 			destinationFs = afero.NewMemMapFs()
 			if renderStaticToDisk {
 				// Hybrid, render dynamic content to Root.
@@ -251,6 +246,8 @@ func (r *rootCommand) ConfigFromProvider(key int32, cfg config.Provider) (*commo
 				cfg.Set("publishDirDynamic", "/")
 				cfg.Set("publishDirStatic", "/")
 			}
+		} else {
+			destinationFs = hugofs.Os
 		}
 
 		fs := hugofs.NewFromSourceAndDestination(sourceFs, destinationFs, cfg)
@@ -498,6 +495,7 @@ Complete documentation is available at https://gohugo.io/.`
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&r.cfgFile, "config", "", "config file (default is hugo.yaml|json|toml)")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&r.cfgDir, "configDir", "config", "config dir")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&r.quiet, "quiet", false, "build in quiet mode")
+	cmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&r.renderToMemory, "renderToMemory", false, "render to memory (mostly useful when running the server)")
 
 	// Set bash-completion
 	_ = cmd.PersistentFlags().SetAnnotation("config", cobra.BashCompFilenameExt, config.ValidConfigFileExtensions)
@@ -506,7 +504,6 @@ Complete documentation is available at https://gohugo.io/.`
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&r.debug, "debug", "", false, "debug output")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&r.logLevel, "logLevel", "", "log level (debug|info|warn|error)")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&r.buildWatch, "watch", "w", false, "watch filesystem for changes and recreate as needed")
-	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&r.renderToMemory, "renderToMemory", false, "render to memory (only useful for benchmark testing)")
 
 	// Configure local flags
 	applyLocalFlagsBuild(cmd, r)
diff --git a/commands/hugobuilder.go b/commands/hugobuilder.go
index 190c12f59..6ae9640b0 100644
--- a/commands/hugobuilder.go
+++ b/commands/hugobuilder.go
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ func (c *hugoBuilder) hugoTry() *hugolib.HugoSites {
 
 func (c *hugoBuilder) loadConfig(cd *simplecobra.Commandeer, running bool) error {
 	cfg := config.New()
-	cfg.Set("renderToDisk", (c.s == nil && !c.r.renderToMemory) || (c.s != nil && c.s.renderToDisk))
+	cfg.Set("renderToMemory", c.r.renderToMemory)
 	watch := c.r.buildWatch || (c.s != nil && c.s.serverWatch)
 	if c.r.environment == "" {
 		// We need to set the environment as early as possible because we need it to load the correct config.
diff --git a/commands/server.go b/commands/server.go
index 574f5c340..e803d4824 100644
--- a/commands/server.go
+++ b/commands/server.go
@@ -239,12 +239,14 @@ func (f *fileServer) createEndpoint(i int) (*http.ServeMux, net.Listener, string
 	r.Printf("Environment: %q\n", f.c.hugoTry().Deps.Site.Hugo().Environment)
 
 	if i == 0 {
-		if f.c.renderToDisk {
-			r.Println("Serving pages from disk")
-		} else if f.c.renderStaticToDisk {
-			r.Println("Serving pages from memory and static files from disk")
+		mainTarget := "disk"
+		if f.c.r.renderToMemory {
+			mainTarget = "memory"
+		}
+		if f.c.renderStaticToDisk {
+			r.Printf("Serving pages from %s and static files from disk\n", mainTarget)
 		} else {
-			r.Println("Serving pages from memory")
+			r.Printf("Serving pages from %s\n", mainTarget)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -444,7 +446,6 @@ type serverCommand struct {
 	doLiveReload bool
 
 	// Flags.
-	renderToDisk        bool
 	renderStaticToDisk  bool
 	navigateToChanged   bool
 	serverAppend        bool
@@ -516,8 +517,9 @@ func (c *serverCommand) Init(cd *simplecobra.Commandeer) error {
 	cmd.Long = `Hugo provides its own webserver which builds and serves the site.
 While hugo server is high performance, it is a webserver with limited options.
 
-'hugo server' will avoid writing the rendered and served content to disk,
-preferring to store it in memory.
+'hugo server' will by default write and server files from disk, but you can
+render to memory by using the '--renderToMemory' flag. This can be faster
+in some cases, but it will consume more memory.
 
 By default hugo will also watch your files for any changes you make and
 automatically rebuild the site. It will then live reload any open browser pages
@@ -537,7 +539,6 @@ of a second, you will be able to save and see your changes nearly instantly.`
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&c.serverAppend, "appendPort", "", true, "append port to baseURL")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.disableLiveReload, "disableLiveReload", false, "watch without enabling live browser reload on rebuild")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.navigateToChanged, "navigateToChanged", false, "navigate to changed content file on live browser reload")
-	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.renderToDisk, "renderToDisk", false, "serve all files from disk (default is from memory)")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.renderStaticToDisk, "renderStaticToDisk", false, "serve static files from disk and dynamic files from memory")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.disableFastRender, "disableFastRender", false, "enables full re-renders on changes")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&c.disableBrowserError, "disableBrowserError", false, "do not show build errors in the browser")
@@ -589,7 +590,9 @@ func (c *serverCommand) PreRun(cd, runner *simplecobra.Commandeer) error {
 	)
 
 	destinationFlag := cd.CobraCommand.Flags().Lookup("destination")
-	c.renderToDisk = c.renderToDisk || (destinationFlag != nil && destinationFlag.Changed)
+	if c.r.renderToMemory && (destinationFlag != nil && destinationFlag.Changed) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot use --renderToMemory with --destination")
+	}
 	c.doLiveReload = !c.disableLiveReload
 	c.fastRenderMode = !c.disableFastRender
 	c.showErrorInBrowser = c.doLiveReload && !c.disableBrowserError
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server.txt b/testscripts/commands/server.txt
index 777a91454..83e3ceafd 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Test the hugo server command.
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
-hugo server --gc &
+hugo server --renderToMemory --gc &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server__edit_config.txt b/testscripts/commands/server__edit_config.txt
index e3972bf07..3997ca895 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server__edit_config.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server__edit_config.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Test the hugo server command when editing the config file.
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
-hugo server &
+hugo server --renderToMemory &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server__edit_content.txt b/testscripts/commands/server__edit_content.txt
index 5a2d9d502..0aca2e892 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server__edit_content.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server__edit_content.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
 # Render to disk so we can check the /public dir.
-hugo server --renderToDisk &
+hugo server &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server__multihost.txt b/testscripts/commands/server__multihost.txt
index 492cac855..888886370 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server__multihost.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server__multihost.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Test the hugo server command.
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
-hugo server &
+hugo server --renderToMemory &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server__watch_hugo_stats.txt b/testscripts/commands/server__watch_hugo_stats.txt
index 179e59f8d..da4ffc19f 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server__watch_hugo_stats.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server__watch_hugo_stats.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-hugo server  &
+hugo server  --renderToMemory &
 
 waitServer
 stopServer
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server__watch_moduleconfig.txt b/testscripts/commands/server__watch_moduleconfig.txt
index 867669754..bd84a1449 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server__watch_moduleconfig.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server__watch_moduleconfig.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-hugo server --disableLiveReload  &
+hugo server --renderToMemory --disableLiveReload  &
 
 waitServer
 stopServer
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload.txt b/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload.txt
index 6b1cd66cb..f3f163c83 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-hugo server --renderToDisk --disableLiveReload &
+hugo server --disableLiveReload &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload__config.txt b/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload__config.txt
index fe49ff247..a71cde12b 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload__config.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server_disablelivereload__config.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-hugo server --renderToDisk &
+hugo server &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server_render_static_to_disk.txt b/testscripts/commands/server_render_static_to_disk.txt
index b0e76e318..98d6c0de8 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server_render_static_to_disk.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server_render_static_to_disk.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Test the hugo server command.
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
-hugo server --renderStaticToDisk &
+hugo server --renderToMemory --renderStaticToDisk &
 
 waitServer
 
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/server_render_to_memory.txt b/testscripts/commands/server_render_to_memory.txt
index 368efe41d..afff92126 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/server_render_to_memory.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/server_render_to_memory.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # We run these tests in parallel so let Hugo decide which port to use.
 # Deliberately using the alias 'serve' here.
-hugo serve &
+hugo serve --renderToMemory &
 
 waitServer