diff --git a/src/cli-options.ts b/src/cli-options.ts
index 89c54c3e..b1764cdf 100755
--- a/src/cli-options.ts
+++ b/src/cli-options.ts
@@ -575,6 +575,7 @@ const cliOptions: CLIOption[] = [
   },
   {
     long: 'deprecated',
+    default: true,
     description: 'Include deprecated packages.',
     type: 'boolean',
   },
diff --git a/test/index.test.ts b/test/index.test.ts
index 32c4c0c6..0c78e416 100644
--- a/test/index.test.ts
+++ b/test/index.test.ts
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ describe('run', function () {
   })
 
   describe('deprecated', () => {
-    it('deprecated excluded by default', async () => {
+    it('deprecated included by default', async () => {
       const upgrades = await ncu({
         packageData: {
           dependencies: {
@@ -144,10 +144,12 @@ describe('run', function () {
           },
         },
       })
-      upgrades!.should.deep.equal({})
+      upgrades!.should.deep.equal({
+        'ncu-test-deprecated': '2.0.0',
+      })
     })
 
-    it('deprecated included with option', async () => {
+    it('deprecated included with --deprecated', async () => {
       const upgrades = await ncu({
         deprecated: true,
         packageData: {
@@ -160,6 +162,18 @@ describe('run', function () {
         'ncu-test-deprecated': '2.0.0',
       })
     })
+
+    it('deprecated excluded with --no-deprecated', async () => {
+      const upgrades = await ncu({
+        deprecated: false,
+        packageData: {
+          dependencies: {
+            'ncu-test-deprecated': '1.0.0',
+          },
+        },
+      })
+      upgrades!.should.deep.equal({})
+    })
   })
 
   it('ignore non-string versions (sometimes used as comments)', async () => {