diff --git a/docs/config/index.md b/docs/config/index.md
index 61a6a3f67737..5c9c75c87be6 100644
--- a/docs/config/index.md
+++ b/docs/config/index.md
@@ -1736,18 +1736,10 @@ Test above this limit will be queued to run when available slot appears.
 
 ### cache<NonProjectOption />
 
-- **Type**: `false | { dir? }`
+- **Type**: `false`
 - **CLI**: `--no-cache`, `--cache=false`
 
-Options to configure Vitest cache policy. At the moment Vitest stores cache for test results to run the longer and failed tests first.
-
-#### cache.dir
-
-- **Type**: `string`
-- **Default**: `node_modules/.vitest`
-- **CLI**: `--cache.dir=./cache`
-
-Path to cache directory.
+Use this option if you want to disable the cache feature. At the moment Vitest stores cache for test results to run the longer and failed tests first.
 
 ### sequence
 
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/cache/index.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/cache/index.ts
index 6783736ba23a..209722e78862 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/cache/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/cache/index.ts
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ export class VitestCache {
     return this.stats.getStats(key)
   }
 
-  static resolveCacheDir(root: string, dir: string | undefined, projectName: string | undefined) {
-    const baseDir = slash(dir || 'node_modules/.vitest')
+  static resolveCacheDir(root: string, dir?: string, projectName?: string) {
+    const baseDir = slash(dir || 'node_modules/.vite/vitest')
     return projectName
       ? resolve(root, baseDir, crypto.createHash('md5').update(projectName, 'utf-8').digest('hex'))
       : resolve(root, baseDir)
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/cli/cli-config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/cli/cli-config.ts
index 622fb13f50a7..b5e16b9f526c 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/cli/cli-config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/cli/cli-config.ts
@@ -549,14 +549,13 @@ export const cliOptionsConfig: VitestCLIOptions = {
     description: 'Enable cache',
     argument: '', // allow only boolean
     subcommands: {
-      dir: {
-        description: 'Path to the cache directory',
-        argument: '<path>',
-        normalize: true,
-      },
+      dir: null,
     },
+    default: true,
     // cache can only be "false" or an object
     transform(cache) {
+      if (typeof cache !== 'boolean' && cache)
+        throw new Error('--cache.dir is deprecated')
       if (cache)
         return {}
       return cache
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
index a6d3b3810a85..9d1c96a18fa3 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
@@ -446,9 +446,21 @@ export function resolveConfig(
     resolved.css.modules.classNameStrategy ??= 'stable'
   }
 
-  resolved.cache ??= { dir: '' }
-  if (resolved.cache)
-    resolved.cache.dir = VitestCache.resolveCacheDir(resolved.root, resolved.cache.dir, resolved.name)
+  if (resolved.cache !== false) {
+    let cacheDir = VitestCache.resolveCacheDir('', resolve(viteConfig.cacheDir, 'vitest'), resolved.name)
+
+    if (resolved.cache && resolved.cache.dir) {
+      console.warn(
+        c.yellow(
+        `${c.inverse(c.yellow(' Vitest '))} "cache.dir" is deprecated, use Vite's "cacheDir" instead if you want to change the cache director. Note caches will be written to "cacheDir\/vitest"`,
+        ),
+      )
+
+      cacheDir = VitestCache.resolveCacheDir(resolved.root, resolved.cache.dir, resolved.name)
+    }
+
+    resolved.cache = { dir: cacheDir }
+  }
 
   resolved.sequence ??= {} as any
   if (resolved.sequence.shuffle && typeof resolved.sequence.shuffle === 'object') {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/types/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/types/config.ts
index 3dc2d42ef633..f75c660558c1 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/types/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/types/config.ts
@@ -624,10 +624,13 @@ export interface InlineConfig {
 
   /**
    * Options for configuring cache policy.
-   * @default { dir: 'node_modules/.vitest' }
+   * @default { dir: 'node_modules/.vite/vitest' }
    */
   cache?: false | {
-    dir?: string
+    /**
+     * @deprecated Use Vite's "cacheDir" instead if you want to change the cache director. Note caches will be written to "cacheDir\/vitest".
+     */
+    dir: string
   }
 
   /**
@@ -854,6 +857,9 @@ export interface ResolvedConfig extends Omit<Required<UserConfig>, 'config' | 'f
   }
 
   cache: {
+    /**
+     * @deprecated
+     */
     dir: string
   } | false
 
diff --git a/test/config/fixtures/cache/basic.test.ts b/test/config/fixtures/cache/basic.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..36c7cc207dde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/fixtures/cache/basic.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { expect, test } from "vitest";
+
+test('', () => {
+  expect(true).toBe(true)
+})
diff --git a/test/config/test/cache.test.ts b/test/config/test/cache.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..379ddbc93d38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/test/cache.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'vitest'
+import { resolve } from 'pathe'
+import { runVitest } from '../../test-utils'
+
+const root = resolve(__dirname, '../fixtures/cache')
+const project = resolve(__dirname, '../')
+
+test('default', async () => {
+  const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest({
+    root,
+    include: ['*.test.ts'],
+  })
+
+  expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+  expect(stderr).toBe('')
+
+  const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+  const path = resolve(project, 'node_modules/.vite/vitest/results.json')
+  expect(cachePath).toMatch(path)
+})
+
+test('use cache.dir', async () => {
+  const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest(
+    {
+      root,
+      include: ['*.test.ts'],
+      cache: {
+        dir: 'node_modules/.vitest-custom',
+      },
+    },
+  )
+
+  expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+  expect(stderr).toContain('"cache.dir" is deprecated')
+
+  const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+  const path = resolve(root, 'node_modules/.vitest-custom/results.json')
+  expect(cachePath).toMatch(path)
+})
+
+test('use cacheDir', async () => {
+  const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest(
+    {
+      root,
+      include: ['*.test.ts'],
+    },
+    [],
+    'test',
+    { cacheDir: 'node_modules/.vite-custom' },
+  )
+
+  expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+  expect(stderr).toBe('')
+
+  const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+  const path = resolve(root, 'node_modules/.vite-custom/vitest/results.json')
+  expect(cachePath).toMatch(path)
+})
+
+describe('with optimizer enabled', () => {
+  const deps = {
+    optimizer: {
+      web: {
+        enabled: true,
+      },
+    },
+  }
+
+  test('default', async () => {
+    const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest({
+      root,
+      include: ['*.test.ts'],
+      deps,
+    })
+
+    expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+    expect(stderr).toBe('')
+
+    const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+    const path = resolve(project, 'node_modules/.vite/vitest/results.json')
+    expect(cachePath).toBe(path)
+  })
+
+  test('use cache.dir', async () => {
+    const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest(
+      {
+        root,
+        include: ['*.test.ts'],
+        deps,
+        cache: {
+          dir: 'node_modules/.vitest-custom',
+        },
+      },
+    )
+
+    expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+    expect(stderr).toContain('"cache.dir" is deprecated')
+
+    const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+    const path = resolve(root, 'node_modules/.vitest-custom/results.json')
+    expect(cachePath).toBe(path)
+  })
+
+  test('use cacheDir', async () => {
+    const { vitest, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest(
+      {
+        root,
+        include: ['*.test.ts'],
+        deps,
+      },
+      [],
+      'test',
+      { cacheDir: 'node_modules/.vite-custom' },
+    )
+
+    expect(stdout).toContain('✓ basic.test.ts >')
+    expect(stderr).toBe('')
+
+    const cachePath = vitest!.cache.results.getCachePath()
+    const path = resolve(root, 'node_modules/.vite-custom/vitest/results.json')
+    expect(cachePath).toBe(path)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/test/core/test/cli-test.test.ts b/test/core/test/cli-test.test.ts
index 90f5123799d4..1d4a3ce636cf 100644
--- a/test/core/test/cli-test.test.ts
+++ b/test/core/test/cli-test.test.ts
@@ -213,16 +213,7 @@ test('maxConcurrency is parsed correctly', () => {
 test('cache is parsed correctly', () => {
   expect(getCLIOptions('--cache')).toEqual({ cache: {} })
   expect(getCLIOptions('--no-cache')).toEqual({ cache: false })
-
-  expect(getCLIOptions('--cache.dir=./test/cache.json')).toEqual({
-    cache: { dir: 'test/cache.json' },
-  })
-  expect(getCLIOptions('--cache.dir ./test/cache.json')).toEqual({
-    cache: { dir: 'test/cache.json' },
-  })
-  expect(getCLIOptions('--cache.dir .\\test\\cache.json')).toEqual({
-    cache: { dir: 'test/cache.json' },
-  })
+  expect(() => getCLIOptions('--cache.dir=./cache')).toThrowError('--cache.dir is deprecated')
 })
 
 test('shuffle is parsed correctly', () => {
diff --git a/test/optimize-deps/test/ssr.test.ts b/test/optimize-deps/test/ssr.test.ts
index dc59d558b84b..38d519ecad22 100644
--- a/test/optimize-deps/test/ssr.test.ts
+++ b/test/optimize-deps/test/ssr.test.ts
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ import { importMetaUrl } from '@vitest/test-dep-url'
 // TODO: flaky on Windows
 // https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/pull/5215#discussion_r1492066033
 test.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('import.meta.url', () => {
-  expect(importMetaUrl).toContain('/node_modules/.vitest/deps_ssr/')
+  expect(importMetaUrl).toContain('/node_modules/.vite/vitest/deps_ssr/')
 })
diff --git a/test/optimize-deps/test/web.test.ts b/test/optimize-deps/test/web.test.ts
index 308e7730640f..88af98f6f4af 100644
--- a/test/optimize-deps/test/web.test.ts
+++ b/test/optimize-deps/test/web.test.ts
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
 import { importMetaUrl } from '@vitest/test-dep-url'
 
 test('import.meta.url', () => {
-  expect(importMetaUrl).toContain('/node_modules/.vitest/deps/')
+  expect(importMetaUrl).toContain('/node_modules/.vite/vitest/deps/')
 })