diff --git a/components/dashboard/src/service/service-mock.ts b/components/dashboard/src/service/service-mock.ts
index ac7841ed8c1639..22d395d16c5705 100644
--- a/components/dashboard/src/service/service-mock.ts
+++ b/components/dashboard/src/service/service-mock.ts
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ const gitpodServiceMock = createServiceMock({
                 displayName: "Standard",
                 description: "Up to 4 vCPU, 8GB memory, 30GB disk",
                 powerups: 1,
+                isDefault: true,
             },
             {
                 id: "g1-large",
@@ -225,6 +226,7 @@ const gitpodServiceMock = createServiceMock({
                 displayName: "Large",
                 description: "Up to 8 vCPU, 16GB memory, 50GB disk",
                 powerups: 2,
+                isDefault: false,
             },
         ];
     },
diff --git a/components/dashboard/src/settings/selectClass.tsx b/components/dashboard/src/settings/selectClass.tsx
index dd67bac8692609..5bc5988a78525d 100644
--- a/components/dashboard/src/settings/selectClass.tsx
+++ b/components/dashboard/src/settings/selectClass.tsx
@@ -43,10 +43,14 @@ export default function SelectWorkspaceClass(props: SelectWorkspaceClassProps) {
         const fetchClasses = async () => {
             const classes = await getGitpodService().server.getSupportedWorkspaceClasses();
             setSupportedClasses(classes);
+
+            if (!workspaceClass) {
+                setWorkspaceClass(supportedClasses.find((c) => c.isDefault)?.id || "");
+            }
         };
 
         fetchClasses().catch(console.error);
-    }, []);
+    });
 
     if (!props.enabled) {
         return <div></div>;
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/workspace-class.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/workspace-class.ts
index 68bca3ec8a79b8..3128db9da1060b 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/workspace-class.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/workspace-class.ts
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ export interface SupportedWorkspaceClass {
     displayName: string;
     description: string;
     powerups: number;
+    isDefault: boolean;
 }
diff --git a/components/server/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts b/components/server/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
index ce6a49726cd6b8..04822579a69804 100644
--- a/components/server/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/workspace/gitpod-server-impl.ts
@@ -3052,6 +3052,7 @@ export class GitpodServerImpl implements GitpodServerWithTracing, Disposable {
                 displayName: c.displayName,
                 description: c.description,
                 powerups: c.powerups,
+                isDefault: c.isDefault,
             }));
 
         return classes;