diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/options/pipeline_options.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/options/pipeline_options.py
index 170ade224c10..4f569305ba09 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/options/pipeline_options.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/options/pipeline_options.py
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@
 # from the flag name and whose default value is `None`.
 _FLAG_THAT_SETS_FALSE_VALUE = {
     'use_public_ips': 'no_use_public_ips',
-    'save_main_session': 'no_save_main_session'
 }
 # Set of options which should not be overriden when applying options from a
 # different language. This is relevant when using x-lang transforms where the
@@ -1683,14 +1682,6 @@ def _add_argparse_args(cls, parser):
             'Some workflows do not need the session state if for instance all '
             'their functions/classes are defined in proper modules '
             '(not __main__) and the modules are importable in the worker. '))
-    parser.add_argument(
-        '--no_save_main_session',
-        default=None,
-        action='store_false',
-        dest='save_main_session',
-        help=(
-            'Disable saving the main session state. It is enabled/disabled by'
-            'default for cloudpickle/dill pickler. See "save_main_session".'))
 
     parser.add_argument(
         '--sdk_location',
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/pipeline.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/pipeline.py
index 6ef06abb7436..d838ea1e7393 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/pipeline.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/pipeline.py
@@ -219,6 +219,11 @@ def __init__(
           SetupOptions).pickle_library = runner.default_pickle_library_override(
           )
     pickler.set_library(self._options.view_as(SetupOptions).pickle_library)
+    if (pickler.is_currently_cloudpickle() and
+        self._options.view_as(SetupOptions).save_main_session is None and
+        runner.cloudpickle_save_main_session_by_default()):
+      self._options.view_as(SetupOptions).save_main_session = True
+      logging.info("Runner defaulting save_main_session to True")
 
     # Validate pipeline options
     errors = PipelineOptionsValidator(self._options, runner).validate()
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
index d33c33f84fee..7cf40d7b6821 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ def __init__(self, cache=None):
   def default_pickle_library_override(self):
     return 'cloudpickle'
 
+  def cloudpickle_save_main_session_by_default(self):
+    """Override to 'true' to save_main_session by default for a given runner."""
+    return True
+
   def is_fnapi_compatible(self):
     return False
 
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/runner.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/runner.py
index 00ca84bb8e7d..190e28a2c925 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/runner.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/runner.py
@@ -229,6 +229,10 @@ def default_pickle_library_override(self):
     """Default pickle library, can be overridden by runner implementation."""
     return None
 
+  def cloudpickle_save_main_session_by_default(self):
+    """Override to 'true' to save_main_session by default for a given runner."""
+    return None
+
 
 # FIXME: replace with PipelineState(str, enum.Enum)
 class PipelineState(object):