diff --git a/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/codestarts/quarkus/QuarkusCodestartCatalog.java b/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/codestarts/quarkus/QuarkusCodestartCatalog.java
index 485dcd0e4b2829..ece6f22dcf056b 100644
--- a/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/codestarts/quarkus/QuarkusCodestartCatalog.java
+++ b/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/codestarts/quarkus/QuarkusCodestartCatalog.java
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
 import io.quarkus.platform.descriptor.loader.json.ResourceLoader;
 import io.quarkus.registry.catalog.Extension;
 import io.quarkus.registry.catalog.ExtensionCatalog;
-import io.smallrye.common.version.VersionScheme;
 
 public final class QuarkusCodestartCatalog extends GenericCodestartCatalog<QuarkusCodestartProjectInput> {
 
@@ -77,6 +76,7 @@ public enum Tooling implements DataKey {
 
     public enum ExtensionCodestart implements DataKey {
         RESTEASY,
+        RESTEASY_REACTIVE,
         REST,
         SPRING_WEB
     }
@@ -138,8 +138,8 @@ protected Collection<Codestart> select(QuarkusCodestartProjectInput projectInput
                 .filter(c -> !isExample(c) || projectInput.getExample() == null || c.matches(projectInput.getExample()))
                 .collect(Collectors.toCollection(ArrayList::new));
 
-        // include default codestarts depending on the versions and the extensions being chosen or not
-        Optional<String> selectedDefaultCodeStart = getSelectedDefaultCodeStart(projectInput);
+        // include default codestart depending on the versions and the extensions being chosen or not
+        Optional<String> selectedDefaultCodeStart = Optional.ofNullable(projectInput.getDefaultCodestart());
 
         if (projectInput.getAppContent().contains(CODE)
                 && selectedDefaultCodeStart.isPresent()
@@ -178,36 +178,6 @@ protected Collection<Codestart> select(QuarkusCodestartProjectInput projectInput
         return projectCodestarts;
     }
 
-    private Optional<String> getSelectedDefaultCodeStart(QuarkusCodestartProjectInput projectInput) {
-        // This is very hackyish, we need a better data structure to do better
-        Optional<ArtifactCoords> quarkusBom = projectInput.getBoms().stream()
-                .map(ArtifactCoords::fromString)
-                .filter(b -> isCoreBom(b) || isPlatformBom(b) || isUniverseBom(b))
-                .findFirst();
-
-        String bomVersion = null;
-
-        if (quarkusBom.isPresent()) {
-            bomVersion = quarkusBom.get().getVersion();
-        }
-
-        if (bomVersion == null || VersionScheme.MAVEN.compare(bomVersion, "2.8") >= 0) {
-            if (projectInput.getExtensions().isEmpty() ||
-                    (projectInput.getExtensions().size() == 1
-                            && isLanguageExtension(projectInput.getExtensions().iterator().next()))) {
-                var defaultCodestart = projectInput.getDefaultCodestart();
-                if (defaultCodestart == null) {
-                    defaultCodestart = QuarkusCodestartCatalog.ExtensionCodestart.REST.key();
-                }
-                return Optional.of(defaultCodestart);
-            }
-
-            return Optional.empty();
-        }
-
-        return Optional.of(ExtensionCodestart.RESTEASY.key());
-    }
-
     private boolean isCoreBom(ArtifactCoords artifactCoords) {
         return IO_QUARKUS_GROUP_ID.equals(artifactCoords.getGroupId()) && QUARKUS_BOM.equals(artifactCoords.getArtifactId());
     }
diff --git a/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/commands/handlers/CreateProjectCommandHandler.java b/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/commands/handlers/CreateProjectCommandHandler.java
index a696b9d5a56543..85d8390526eff3 100644
--- a/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/commands/handlers/CreateProjectCommandHandler.java
+++ b/independent-projects/tools/devtools-common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/devtools/commands/handlers/CreateProjectCommandHandler.java
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ private void checkMinimumJavaVersion(String javaVersionString, List<Extension> e
     }
 
     private static String getDefaultCodestart(ExtensionCatalog catalog) {
+        // Recent versions of the catalog have a default-codestart in the project metadata (2.10+)
         var map = catalog.getMetadata();
         if (map != null && !map.isEmpty()) {
             var projectMetadata = map.get("project");
@@ -264,6 +265,7 @@ private static String getDefaultCodestart(ExtensionCatalog catalog) {
                 }
             }
         }
-        return null;
+        // Let's use resteasy-reactive for older versions
+        return "resteasy-reactive";
     }
 }