diff --git a/docs/changelog/1813.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/1813.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a894bb43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/1813.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix download is ``True`` by default - by :user:`gaborbernat`.
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/seed/embed/base_embed.py b/src/virtualenv/seed/embed/base_embed.py
index 1067a7b70..e98a72d1c 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/seed/embed/base_embed.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/seed/embed/base_embed.py
@@ -45,13 +45,6 @@ def package_version(self):
     @classmethod
     def add_parser_arguments(cls, parser, interpreter, app_data):
         group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
-        group.add_argument(
-            "--download",
-            dest="download",
-            action="store_true",
-            help="pass to enable download of the latest {} from PyPI".format("/".join(cls.packages)),
-            default=False,
-        )
         group.add_argument(
             "--no-download",
             "--never-download",
@@ -60,6 +53,13 @@ def add_parser_arguments(cls, parser, interpreter, app_data):
             help="pass to disable download of the latest {} from PyPI".format("/".join(cls.packages)),
             default=True,
         )
+        group.add_argument(
+            "--download",
+            dest="download",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="pass to enable download of the latest {} from PyPI".format("/".join(cls.packages)),
+            default=False,
+        )
         parser.add_argument(
             "--extra-search-dir",
             metavar="d",
diff --git a/tests/unit/seed/test_base_embed.py b/tests/unit/seed/test_base_embed.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..379211c6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/seed/test_base_embed.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import pytest
+
+from virtualenv.run import session_via_cli
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "args, download", [([], False), (["--no-download"], False), (["--never-download"], False), (["--download"], True)]
+)
+def test_download_cli_flag(args, download, tmp_path):
+    session = session_via_cli(args + [str(tmp_path)])
+    assert session.seeder.download is download