diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index ebb9b9d23c..867fc1c86e 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ fi
 
 # Optional: Install cluster DNS.
 # Set CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS to 'true' to install CoreDNS instead of kube-dns.
-CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS="${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-true}"
+CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS="${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-false}"
 ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS="${KUBE_ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS:-true}"
 DNS_SERVER_IP="${KUBE_DNS_SERVER_IP:-10.0.0.10}"
 DNS_DOMAIN="${KUBE_DNS_DOMAIN:-cluster.local}"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index b2c6f98046..4766afa570 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ fi
 
 # Optional: Install cluster DNS.
 # Set CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS to 'true' to install CoreDNS instead of kube-dns.
-CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS="${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-true}"
+CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS="${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-false}"
 ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS="${KUBE_ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS:-true}"
 DNS_SERVER_IP="10.0.0.10"
 DNS_DOMAIN="cluster.local"
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index a031bd0851..4997805318 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -847,7 +847,7 @@ ENABLE_NODE_LOGGING: $(yaml-quote ${ENABLE_NODE_LOGGING:-false})
 LOGGING_DESTINATION: $(yaml-quote ${LOGGING_DESTINATION:-})
 ELASTICSEARCH_LOGGING_REPLICAS: $(yaml-quote ${ELASTICSEARCH_LOGGING_REPLICAS:-})
 ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS: $(yaml-quote ${ENABLE_CLUSTER_DNS:-false})
-CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS: $(yaml-quote ${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-true})
+CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS: $(yaml-quote ${CLUSTER_DNS_CORE_DNS:-false})
 DNS_SERVER_IP: $(yaml-quote ${DNS_SERVER_IP:-})
 DNS_DOMAIN: $(yaml-quote ${DNS_DOMAIN:-})
 ENABLE_DNS_HORIZONTAL_AUTOSCALER: $(yaml-quote ${ENABLE_DNS_HORIZONTAL_AUTOSCALER:-false})