diff --git a/runtime/doc/options.txt b/runtime/doc/options.txt
index 386fcdf8c0..30aebfc5ff 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/options.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/options.txt
@@ -5746,7 +5746,7 @@ A jump table for the options with a short description can be found at |Q_op|.
 	current one. |:vsplit|
 
 			   *'startofline'* *'sol'* *'nostartofline'* *'nosol'*
-'startofline' 'sol'	boolean	(default on)
+'startofline' 'sol'	boolean	(default off)
 			global
 	When "on" the commands listed below move the cursor to the first
 	non-blank of the line.  When off the cursor is kept in the same column
diff --git a/runtime/doc/vim_diff.txt b/runtime/doc/vim_diff.txt
index 4267aefbbf..3646034dba 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/vim_diff.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/vim_diff.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ the differences.
 - 'showcmd' is enabled
 - 'sidescroll' defaults to 1
 - 'smarttab' is enabled
+- 'startofline' is disabled
 - 'tabpagemax' defaults to 50
 - 'tags' defaults to "./tags;,tags"
 - 'ttimeoutlen' defaults to 50
diff --git a/src/nvim/options.lua b/src/nvim/options.lua
index d20174466d..903b7e982a 100644
--- a/src/nvim/options.lua
+++ b/src/nvim/options.lua
@@ -2323,9 +2323,9 @@ return {
       full_name='startofline', abbreviation='sol',
       type='bool', scope={'global'},
       vi_def=true,
-      vim=true,
+      vim=false,
       varname='p_sol',
-      defaults={if_true={vi=true}}
+      defaults={if_true={vi=false}}
     },
     {
       full_name='statusline', abbreviation='stl',
diff --git a/src/nvim/testdir/setup.vim b/src/nvim/testdir/setup.vim
index ea28f328ae..d032c9a739 100644
--- a/src/nvim/testdir/setup.vim
+++ b/src/nvim/testdir/setup.vim
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ set sidescroll=0
 set tags=./tags,tags
 set undodir^=.
 set wildoptions=
+set startofline
 
 " Prevent Nvim log from writing to stderr.
 let $NVIM_LOG_FILE = exists($NVIM_LOG_FILE) ? $NVIM_LOG_FILE : 'Xnvim.log'
diff --git a/test/functional/helpers.lua b/test/functional/helpers.lua
index 1108fbb2ba..9fcd1cf7b1 100644
--- a/test/functional/helpers.lua
+++ b/test/functional/helpers.lua
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ module.nvim_prog = (
 )
 -- Default settings for the test session.
 module.nvim_set = (
-  'set shortmess+=IS background=light noswapfile noautoindent'
+  'set shortmess+=IS background=light noswapfile noautoindent startofline'
   ..' laststatus=1 undodir=. directory=. viewdir=. backupdir=.'
   ..' belloff= wildoptions-=pum noshowcmd noruler nomore redrawdebug=invalid')
 module.nvim_argv = {
diff --git a/test/functional/legacy/breakindent_spec.lua b/test/functional/legacy/breakindent_spec.lua
deleted file mode 100644
index fd25e809e0..0000000000
--- a/test/functional/legacy/breakindent_spec.lua
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,214 +0,0 @@
--- Test for breakindent
-
-local helpers = require('test.functional.helpers')(after_each)
-local feed, insert = helpers.feed, helpers.insert
-local clear, feed_command, expect = helpers.clear, helpers.feed_command, helpers.expect
-
-describe('breakindent', function()
-  setup(clear)
-
-  -- luacheck: ignore 621 (Indentation)
-  -- luacheck: ignore 613 (Trailing whitespace in a string)
-  -- luacheck: ignore 611 (Line contains only whitespaces)
-  it('is working', function()
-    insert('dummy text')
-
-    feed_command('set wildchar=^E')
-    feed_command('10new')
-    feed_command('vsp')
-    feed_command('vert resize 20')
-    feed_command([[put =\"\tabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP\"]])
-    feed_command('set ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 breakindent')
-    feed_command('fu! ScreenChar(line, width)')
-    feed_command('	let c=""')
-    feed_command('	for i in range(1,a:width)')
-    feed_command('		let c.=nr2char(screenchar(a:line, i))')
-    feed_command('	endfor')
-    feed_command([[       let c.="\n"]])
-    feed_command('	for i in range(1,a:width)')
-    feed_command('		let c.=nr2char(screenchar(a:line+1, i))')
-    feed_command('	endfor')
-    feed_command([[       let c.="\n"]])
-    feed_command('	for i in range(1,a:width)')
-    feed_command('		let c.=nr2char(screenchar(a:line+2, i))')
-    feed_command('	endfor')
-    feed_command('	return c')
-    feed_command('endfu')
-    feed_command('fu DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('	wincmd l')
-    feed_command([[	$put =printf(\"\n%s\", g:test)]])
-    feed_command('	$put =g:line1')
-    feed_command('	wincmd p')
-    feed_command('endfu')
-    feed_command('set briopt=min:0')
-    feed_command('let g:test="Test 1: Simple breakindent"')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test="Test 2: Simple breakindent + sbr=>>"')
-    feed_command('set sbr=>>')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test ="Test 3: Simple breakindent + briopt:sbr"')
-    feed_command('set briopt=sbr,min:0 sbr=++')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test ="Test 4: Simple breakindent + min width: 18"')
-    feed_command('set sbr= briopt=min:18')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test =" Test 5: Simple breakindent + shift by 2"')
-    feed_command('set briopt=shift:2,min:0')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test=" Test 6: Simple breakindent + shift by -1"')
-    feed_command('set briopt=shift:-1,min:0')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test=" Test 7: breakindent + shift by +1 + nu + sbr=? briopt:sbr"')
-    feed_command('set briopt=shift:1,sbr,min:0 nu sbr=? nuw=4')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),10)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('let g:test=" Test 8: breakindent + shift:1 + nu + sbr=# list briopt:sbr"')
-    feed_command('set briopt=shift:1,sbr,min:0 nu sbr=# list lcs&vi')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),10)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command([[let g:test=" Test 9: breakindent + shift by +1 + 'nu' + sbr=# list"]])
-    feed_command('set briopt-=sbr')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),10)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command([[let g:test=" Test 10: breakindent + shift by +1 + 'nu' + sbr=~ cpo+=n"]])
-    feed_command('set cpo+=n sbr=~ nu nuw=4 nolist briopt=sbr,min:0')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),10)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('wincmd p')
-    feed_command([[let g:test="\n Test 11: strdisplaywidth when breakindent is on"]])
-    feed_command('set cpo-=n sbr=>> nu nuw=4 nolist briopt= ts=4')
-    -- Skip leading tab when calculating text width.
-    feed_command('let text=getline(2)')
-    -- Text wraps 3 times.
-    feed_command('let width = strlen(text[1:])+indent(2)*4+strlen(&sbr)*3')
-    feed_command('$put =g:test')
-    feed_command([[$put =printf(\"strdisplaywidth: %d == calculated: %d\", strdisplaywidth(text), width)]])
-    feed_command([[let g:str="\t\t\t\t\t{"]])
-    feed_command('let g:test=" Test 12: breakindent + long indent"')
-    feed_command('wincmd p')
-    feed_command('set all& breakindent linebreak briopt=min:10 nu numberwidth=3 ts=4')
-    feed_command('$put =g:str')
-    feed('zt')
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(1,10)')
-    feed_command('wincmd p')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-
-    -- Test, that the string "    a\tb\tc\td\te" is correctly displayed in a
-    -- 20 column wide window (see bug report
-    -- https://groups.google.com/d/msg/vim_dev/ZOdg2mc9c9Y/TT8EhFjEy0IJ ).
-    feed_command('only')
-    feed_command('vert 20new')
-    feed_command('set all& breakindent briopt=min:10')
-    feed_command([[call setline(1, ["    a\tb\tc\td\te", "    z   y       x       w       v"])]])
-    feed_command([[/^\s*a]])
-    feed('fbgjyl')
-    feed_command('let line1 = @0')
-    feed_command([[?^\s*z]])
-    feed('fygjyl')
-    feed_command('let line2 = @0')
-    feed_command('quit!')
-    feed_command([[$put ='Test 13: breakindent with wrapping Tab']])
-    feed_command('$put =line1')
-    feed_command('$put =line2')
-
-    feed_command('let g:test="Test 14: breakindent + visual blockwise delete #1"')
-    feed_command('set all& breakindent shada+=nX-test-breakindent.shada')
-    feed_command('30vnew')
-    feed_command('normal! 3a1234567890')
-    feed_command('normal! a    abcde')
-    feed_command([[exec "normal! 0\<C-V>tex"]])
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),8)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-
-    feed_command('let g:test="Test 15: breakindent + visual blockwise delete #2"')
-    feed_command('%d')
-    feed_command('normal! 4a1234567890')
-    feed_command([[exec "normal! >>\<C-V>3f0x"]])
-    feed_command('let line1=ScreenChar(line("."),20)')
-    feed_command('call DoRecordScreen()')
-    feed_command('quit!')
-
-    -- Assert buffer contents.
-    expect([[
-
-      	abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP
-
-      Test 1: Simple breakindent
-          abcd
-          qrst
-          GHIJ
-
-      Test 2: Simple breakindent + sbr=>>
-          abcd
-          >>qr
-          >>EF
-
-      Test 3: Simple breakindent + briopt:sbr
-          abcd
-      ++  qrst
-      ++  GHIJ
-
-      Test 4: Simple breakindent + min width: 18
-          abcd
-        qrstuv
-        IJKLMN
-
-       Test 5: Simple breakindent + shift by 2
-          abcd
-            qr
-            EF
-
-       Test 6: Simple breakindent + shift by -1
-          abcd
-         qrstu
-         HIJKL
-
-       Test 7: breakindent + shift by +1 + nu + sbr=? briopt:sbr
-        2     ab
-          ?    m
-          ?    x
-
-       Test 8: breakindent + shift:1 + nu + sbr=# list briopt:sbr
-        2 ^Iabcd
-          #  opq
-          #  BCD
-
-       Test 9: breakindent + shift by +1 + 'nu' + sbr=# list
-        2 ^Iabcd
-             #op
-             #AB
-
-       Test 10: breakindent + shift by +1 + 'nu' + sbr=~ cpo+=n
-        2     ab
-      ~       mn
-      ~       yz
-
-       Test 11: strdisplaywidth when breakindent is on
-      strdisplaywidth: 46 == calculated: 64
-      					{
-
-       Test 12: breakindent + long indent
-      56        
-                
-      ~         
-      Test 13: breakindent with wrapping Tab
-      d
-      w
-
-      Test 14: breakindent + visual blockwise delete #1
-      e       
-      ~       
-      ~       
-
-      Test 15: breakindent + visual blockwise delete #2
-              1234567890  
-      ~                   
-      ~                   ]])
-  end)
-end)