diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/cli-api.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/cli-api.ts
index f9af6ffc5244..b9b83e3573d0 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/cli-api.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/cli-api.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export async function startVitest(
 ): Promise<Vitest | undefined> {
   process.env.TEST = 'true'
   process.env.VITEST = 'true'
-  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= options.mode || 'test'
+  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= 'test'
 
   if (options.run)
     options.watch = false
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/create.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/create.ts
index 82a8f8f62d81..5ea9e31cdef8 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/create.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/create.ts
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ export async function createVitest(mode: VitestRunMode, options: UserConfig, vit
   const config: ViteInlineConfig = {
     logLevel: 'error',
     configFile: configPath,
-    // this will make "mode" = "test" inside defineConfig
-    mode: options.mode || process.env.NODE_ENV || mode,
+    // this will make "mode": "test" | "benchmark" inside defineConfig
+    mode: options.mode || mode,
     plugins: await VitestPlugin(options, ctx),
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
index 522209311448..3f13a2c6ebbc 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export function createPool(ctx: Vitest): ProcessPool {
       env: {
         TEST: 'true',
         VITEST: 'true',
-        NODE_ENV: ctx.config.mode || 'test',
+        NODE_ENV: process.env.NODE_ENV || 'test',
         VITEST_MODE: ctx.config.watch ? 'WATCH' : 'RUN',
         ...process.env,
         ...ctx.config.env,
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
index 5db0d6673436..177eafbf1e5c 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ export async function initializeProject(workspacePath: string | number, ctx: Vit
     root,
     logLevel: 'error',
     configFile,
-    // this will make "mode" = "test" inside defineConfig
-    mode: options.mode || ctx.config.mode || process.env.NODE_ENV,
+    // this will make "mode": "test" | "benchmark" inside defineConfig
+    mode: options.mode || ctx.config.mode,
     plugins: [
       ...options.plugins || [],
       WorkspaceVitestPlugin(project, { ...options, root, workspacePath }),
diff --git a/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.benchmark.ts b/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.benchmark.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a216fdfc4165
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.benchmark.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { bench, describe } from 'vitest'
+
+describe('example', () => {
+  bench('simple', () => {
+    let _ = 0
+    _ += 1
+  }, { iterations: 1, time: 1, warmupIterations: 0, warmupTime: 0 })
+})
diff --git a/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.test.ts b/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5528955569f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/fixtures/mode/example.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
+
+test('should pass', () => {
+  expect(1).toBe(1)
+})
diff --git a/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.benchmark.config.ts b/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.benchmark.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..61158da65a58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.benchmark.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config'
+
+export default defineConfig((env) => {
+  if (env.mode !== 'benchmark') {
+    console.error('env.mode: ', env.mode)
+    throw new Error('env.mode should be equal to "benchmark"')
+  }
+
+  return ({})
+})
diff --git a/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.test.config.ts b/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.test.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..556dcbc890e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/fixtures/mode/vitest.test.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config'
+
+export default defineConfig((env) => {
+  if (env.mode !== 'test') {
+    console.error('env.mode: ', env.mode)
+    throw new Error('env.mode should be equal to "test"')
+  }
+
+  return ({})
+})
diff --git a/test/config/test/mode.test.ts b/test/config/test/mode.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7381e06c6155
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config/test/mode.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
+import * as testUtils from '../../test-utils'
+
+test.each([
+  { expectedMode: 'test', command: ['run'] },
+  { expectedMode: 'benchmark', command: ['bench', '--run'] },
+])(`env.mode should have the $expectedMode value when running in $name mode`, async ({ command, expectedMode }) => {
+  const { stdout } = await testUtils.runVitestCli(...(command), 'fixtures/mode', '-c', `fixtures/mode/vitest.${expectedMode}.config.ts`)
+
+  expect(stdout).toContain(`✓ fixtures/mode/example.${expectedMode}.ts`)
+})
+
+test.each([
+  { expectedMode: 'test', command: ['bench', '--run'], actualMode: 'benchmark' },
+  { expectedMode: 'benchmark', command: ['run'], actualMode: 'test' },
+])(`should return error if actual mode $actualMode is different than expected mode $expectedMode`, async ({ command, expectedMode, actualMode }) => {
+  const { stdout, stderr } = await testUtils.runVitestCli(...(command), 'fixtures/mode', '-c', `fixtures/mode/vitest.${expectedMode}.config.ts`)
+
+  expect(stderr).toContain(`env.mode:  ${actualMode}`)
+  expect(stderr).toContain('⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Unhandled Error ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯')
+  expect(stderr).toContain(`Error: env.mode should be equal to "${expectedMode}"`)
+  expect(stdout).toBe('')
+})