diff --git a/autogen/main/variables.tf.tmpl b/autogen/main/variables.tf.tmpl
index a3118d41ab..d678fa60e6 100644
--- a/autogen/main/variables.tf.tmpl
+++ b/autogen/main/variables.tf.tmpl
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {
diff --git a/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/README.md b/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/README.md
index b94c531c4b..47038d5562 100644
--- a/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/README.md
+++ b/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/README.md
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | enable\_l4\_ilb\_subsetting | Enable L4 ILB Subsetting on the cluster | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_network\_egress\_export | Whether to enable network egress metering for this cluster. If enabled, a daemonset will be created in the cluster to meter network egress traffic. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_private\_endpoint | Whether the master's internal IP address is used as the cluster endpoint | `bool` | `false` | no |
-| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `false` | no |
+| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_resource\_consumption\_export | Whether to enable resource consumption metering on this cluster. When enabled, a table will be created in the resource export BigQuery dataset to store resource consumption data. The resulting table can be joined with the resource usage table or with BigQuery billing export. | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_secret\_manager\_addon | (Beta) Enable the Secret Manager add-on for this cluster | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_tpu | Enable Cloud TPU resources in the cluster. WARNING: changing this after cluster creation is destructive! | `bool` | `false` | no |
diff --git a/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/variables.tf b/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/variables.tf
index b53537b90e..aeb1b176d8 100644
--- a/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/beta-autopilot-private-cluster/variables.tf
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {
diff --git a/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/README.md b/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
index 291c5ac550..2302a8519a 100644
--- a/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
+++ b/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | enable\_network\_egress\_export | Whether to enable network egress metering for this cluster. If enabled, a daemonset will be created in the cluster to meter network egress traffic. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_pod\_security\_policy | enabled - Enable the PodSecurityPolicy controller for this cluster. If enabled, pods must be valid under a PodSecurityPolicy to be created. Pod Security Policy was removed from GKE clusters with version >= 1.25.0. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_private\_endpoint | Whether the master's internal IP address is used as the cluster endpoint | `bool` | `false` | no |
-| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `false` | no |
+| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_resource\_consumption\_export | Whether to enable resource consumption metering on this cluster. When enabled, a table will be created in the resource export BigQuery dataset to store resource consumption data. The resulting table can be joined with the resource usage table or with BigQuery billing export. | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_secret\_manager\_addon | (Beta) Enable the Secret Manager add-on for this cluster | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_shielded\_nodes | Enable Shielded Nodes features on all nodes in this cluster | `bool` | `true` | no |
diff --git a/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf b/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
index fa7670edfa..7941ea613b 100644
--- a/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/beta-private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {
diff --git a/modules/beta-private-cluster/README.md b/modules/beta-private-cluster/README.md
index 5db9fc0ddb..df5d340e35 100644
--- a/modules/beta-private-cluster/README.md
+++ b/modules/beta-private-cluster/README.md
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | enable\_network\_egress\_export | Whether to enable network egress metering for this cluster. If enabled, a daemonset will be created in the cluster to meter network egress traffic. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_pod\_security\_policy | enabled - Enable the PodSecurityPolicy controller for this cluster. If enabled, pods must be valid under a PodSecurityPolicy to be created. Pod Security Policy was removed from GKE clusters with version >= 1.25.0. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_private\_endpoint | Whether the master's internal IP address is used as the cluster endpoint | `bool` | `false` | no |
-| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `false` | no |
+| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_resource\_consumption\_export | Whether to enable resource consumption metering on this cluster. When enabled, a table will be created in the resource export BigQuery dataset to store resource consumption data. The resulting table can be joined with the resource usage table or with BigQuery billing export. | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_secret\_manager\_addon | (Beta) Enable the Secret Manager add-on for this cluster | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_shielded\_nodes | Enable Shielded Nodes features on all nodes in this cluster | `bool` | `true` | no |
diff --git a/modules/beta-private-cluster/variables.tf b/modules/beta-private-cluster/variables.tf
index fa7670edfa..7941ea613b 100644
--- a/modules/beta-private-cluster/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/beta-private-cluster/variables.tf
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/README.md b/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
index db5fb5784f..573d83ee84 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
+++ b/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/README.md
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | enable\_mesh\_certificates | Controls the issuance of workload mTLS certificates. When enabled the GKE Workload Identity Certificates controller and node agent will be deployed in the cluster. Requires Workload Identity. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_network\_egress\_export | Whether to enable network egress metering for this cluster. If enabled, a daemonset will be created in the cluster to meter network egress traffic. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_private\_endpoint | Whether the master's internal IP address is used as the cluster endpoint | `bool` | `false` | no |
-| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `false` | no |
+| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_resource\_consumption\_export | Whether to enable resource consumption metering on this cluster. When enabled, a table will be created in the resource export BigQuery dataset to store resource consumption data. The resulting table can be joined with the resource usage table or with BigQuery billing export. | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_shielded\_nodes | Enable Shielded Nodes features on all nodes in this cluster | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_tpu | Enable Cloud TPU resources in the cluster. WARNING: changing this after cluster creation is destructive! | `bool` | `false` | no |
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf b/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
index ea5dc1a700..2ce680c4e1 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/private-cluster-update-variant/variables.tf
@@ -457,7 +457,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/README.md b/modules/private-cluster/README.md
index 590004ace3..c823d3b290 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/README.md
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/README.md
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | enable\_mesh\_certificates | Controls the issuance of workload mTLS certificates. When enabled the GKE Workload Identity Certificates controller and node agent will be deployed in the cluster. Requires Workload Identity. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_network\_egress\_export | Whether to enable network egress metering for this cluster. If enabled, a daemonset will be created in the cluster to meter network egress traffic. | `bool` | `false` | no |
 | enable\_private\_endpoint | Whether the master's internal IP address is used as the cluster endpoint | `bool` | `false` | no |
-| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `false` | no |
+| enable\_private\_nodes | Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_resource\_consumption\_export | Whether to enable resource consumption metering on this cluster. When enabled, a table will be created in the resource export BigQuery dataset to store resource consumption data. The resulting table can be joined with the resource usage table or with BigQuery billing export. | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_shielded\_nodes | Enable Shielded Nodes features on all nodes in this cluster | `bool` | `true` | no |
 | enable\_tpu | Enable Cloud TPU resources in the cluster. WARNING: changing this after cluster creation is destructive! | `bool` | `false` | no |
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf b/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
index ea5dc1a700..2ce680c4e1 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
@@ -457,7 +457,7 @@ variable "enable_private_endpoint" {
 variable "enable_private_nodes" {
   type        = bool
   description = "Whether nodes have internal IP addresses only"
-  default     = false
+  default     = true
 }
 
 variable "master_ipv4_cidr_block" {