diff --git a/docs/source/command_line.rst b/docs/source/command_line.rst
index 11555c4ea89a..48fd22c0bd55 100644
--- a/docs/source/command_line.rst
+++ b/docs/source/command_line.rst
@@ -17,25 +17,23 @@ flag (or its long form ``--help``)::
               [--disallow-untyped-defs] [--disallow-incomplete-defs]
               [--check-untyped-defs] [--disallow-subclassing-any]
               [--warn-incomplete-stub] [--disallow-untyped-decorators]
-              [--warn-redundant-casts] [--no-warn-no-return]
-              [--warn-return-any] [--warn-unused-ignores]
-              [--warn-unused-configs] [--show-error-context]
-              [--no-implicit-optional] [-i] [--quick-and-dirty]
-              [--cache-dir DIR] [--cache-fine-grained] [--skip-version-check]
-              [--strict-optional]
+              [--warn-redundant-casts] [--no-warn-no-return] [--warn-return-any]
+              [--warn-unused-ignores] [--warn-unused-configs]
+              [--show-error-context] [--no-implicit-optional] [--no-incremental]
+              [--quick-and-dirty] [--cache-dir DIR] [--cache-fine-grained]
+              [--skip-version-check] [--strict-optional]
               [--strict-optional-whitelist [GLOB [GLOB ...]]]
-              [--always-true NAME] [--always-false NAME]
-              [--junit-xml JUNIT_XML] [--pdb] [--show-traceback] [--stats]
-              [--inferstats] [--custom-typing MODULE]
-              [--custom-typeshed-dir DIR] [--scripts-are-modules]
-              [--config-file CONFIG_FILE] [--show-column-numbers]
-              [--find-occurrences CLASS.MEMBER] [--strict]
-              [--shadow-file SOURCE_FILE SHADOW_FILE] [--any-exprs-report DIR]
-              [--cobertura-xml-report DIR] [--html-report DIR]
-              [--linecount-report DIR] [--linecoverage-report DIR]
-              [--memory-xml-report DIR] [--txt-report DIR] [--xml-report DIR]
-              [--xslt-html-report DIR] [--xslt-txt-report DIR] [-m MODULE]
-              [-p PACKAGE] [-c PROGRAM_TEXT]
+              [--always-true NAME] [--always-false NAME] [--junit-xml JUNIT_XML]
+              [--pdb] [--show-traceback] [--stats] [--inferstats]
+              [--custom-typing MODULE] [--custom-typeshed-dir DIR]
+              [--scripts-are-modules] [--config-file CONFIG_FILE]
+              [--show-column-numbers] [--find-occurrences CLASS.MEMBER]
+              [--strict] [--shadow-file SOURCE_FILE SHADOW_FILE]
+              [--any-exprs-report DIR] [--cobertura-xml-report DIR]
+              [--html-report DIR] [--linecount-report DIR]
+              [--linecoverage-report DIR] [--memory-xml-report DIR]
+              [--txt-report DIR] [--xml-report DIR] [--xslt-html-report DIR]
+              [--xslt-txt-report DIR] [-m MODULE] [-p PACKAGE] [-c PROGRAM_TEXT]
               [files [files ...]]
 
   (etc., too long to show everything here)
@@ -339,12 +337,15 @@ Here are some more useful flags:
 
 .. _incremental:
 
-- ``--incremental`` enables a module cache, using results from
+- Incremental mode enables a module cache, using results from
   previous runs to speed up type checking. Incremental mode can help
   when most parts of your program haven't changed since the previous
   mypy run.
 
-- ``--cache-dir DIR`` is a companion flag to ``-incremental``, which
+  Incremental mode is the default and may be disabled with
+  ``--no-incremental``.
+
+- ``--cache-dir DIR`` is a companion flag to incremental mode, which
   specifies where the cache files are written.  By default this is
   ``.mypy_cache`` in the current directory.  While the cache is only
   read in incremental mode, it is written even in non-incremental
diff --git a/docs/source/config_file.rst b/docs/source/config_file.rst
index 042b5b9142dc..0b6899045a7a 100644
--- a/docs/source/config_file.rst
+++ b/docs/source/config_file.rst
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ The following global flags may only be set in the global section
 - ``dump_inference_stats`` (Boolean, default False) dumps stats about
   type inference.
 
-- ``incremental`` (Boolean, default False) enables :ref:`incremental
+- ``incremental`` (Boolean, default True) enables :ref:`incremental
   mode <incremental>`.
 
 - ``cache_dir`` (string, default ``.mypy_cache``) stores module cache
diff --git a/mypy/main.py b/mypy/main.py
index 1779c000ad1e..67f617ec67b4 100644
--- a/mypy/main.py
+++ b/mypy/main.py
@@ -314,9 +314,9 @@ def add_invertible_flag(flag: str,
     add_invertible_flag('--no-implicit-optional', default=False, strict_flag=True,
                         help="don't assume arguments with default values of None are Optional")
     parser.add_argument('-i', '--incremental', action='store_true',
-                        help="enable module cache, (inverse: --no-incremental)")
-    parser.add_argument('--no-incremental', action='store_false', dest='incremental',
                         help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
+    parser.add_argument('--no-incremental', action='store_false', dest='incremental',
+                        help="disable module cache, (inverse: --incremental)")
     parser.add_argument('--quick-and-dirty', action='store_true',
                         help="use cache even if dependencies out of date "
                         "(implies --incremental)")
diff --git a/mypy/options.py b/mypy/options.py
index a5eade051a21..71ab15c5beaf 100644
--- a/mypy/options.py
+++ b/mypy/options.py
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ def __init__(self) -> None:
         self.junit_xml = None  # type: Optional[str]
 
         # Caching and incremental checking options
-        self.incremental = False
+        self.incremental = True
         self.cache_dir = defaults.CACHE_DIR
         self.debug_cache = False
         self.quick_and_dirty = False