diff --git a/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts b/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
index 240d49a064537a..31dc332e13c961 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-vue/src/index.ts
@@ -77,8 +77,7 @@ export default function vuePlugin(rawOptions: Options = {}): Plugin {
         define: {
           __VUE_OPTIONS_API__: true,
           __VUE_PROD_DEVTOOLS__: false
-        },
-        ssrExternal: ['vue', '@vue/server-renderer']
+        }
       }
     },
 
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
index 39c7354ca52445..85ec88f9619968 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import { TransformOptions } from 'esbuild'
 import { CleanCSS } from 'types/clean-css'
 import { dataURIPlugin } from './plugins/dataUri'
 import { buildImportAnalysisPlugin } from './plugins/importAnaysisBuild'
+import { resolveSSRExternal } from './ssrExternal'
 
 export interface BuildOptions {
   /**
@@ -290,10 +291,9 @@ async function doBuild(
 
   // inject ssrExternal if present
   const userExternal = options.rollupOptions?.external
-  const external =
-    options.ssr && config.ssrExternal
-      ? resolveExternal(config.ssrExternal, userExternal)
-      : userExternal
+  const external = options.ssr
+    ? resolveExternal(resolveSSRExternal(config.root), userExternal)
+    : userExternal
 
   const rollup = require('rollup') as typeof Rollup
 
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/config.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/config.ts
index a7d77b8bdd90dd..6eed677aa9638f 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/config.ts
@@ -107,11 +107,6 @@ export interface UserConfig {
    * Default: true
    */
   clearScreen?: boolean
-  /**
-   * Externalize deps for SSR. These deps must provide a CommonJS build that
-   * can be `required()` and has the same module signature as its ESM build.
-   */
-  ssrExternal?: string[]
 }
 
 export interface InlineConfig extends UserConfig {
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/importAnalysis.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/importAnalysis.ts
index 54bb34464a0f68..8bc424c2d54f10 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/importAnalysis.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/importAnalysis.ts
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ export function importAnalysisPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
             continue
           }
           // skip ssr external
-          if (ssr && config.ssrExternal?.includes(url)) {
+          if (ssr && server._ssrExternals?.includes(url)) {
             continue
           }
           // skip client
@@ -459,7 +459,10 @@ function isSupportedDynamicImport(url: string) {
 
 function isOptimizedCjs(
   id: string,
-  { optimizeDepsMetadata, config: { optimizeCacheDir } }: ViteDevServer
+  {
+    _optimizeDepsMetadata: optimizeDepsMetadata,
+    config: { optimizeCacheDir }
+  }: ViteDevServer
 ): boolean {
   if (optimizeDepsMetadata && optimizeCacheDir) {
     const relative = path.relative(optimizeCacheDir, cleanUrl(id))
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/resolve.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/resolve.ts
index b649066eded9d2..05df6a70270255 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/resolve.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/resolve.ts
@@ -275,8 +275,8 @@ export function tryNodeResolve(
   if (
     deepMatch &&
     server &&
-    server.optimizeDepsMetadata &&
-    pkg.data.name in server.optimizeDepsMetadata.map &&
+    server._optimizeDepsMetadata &&
+    pkg.data.name in server._optimizeDepsMetadata.map &&
     !isCSSRequest(id) &&
     !server.config.assetsInclude(id)
   ) {
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ export function tryNodeResolve(
     // files actually inside node_modules so that locally linked packages
     // in monorepos are not cached this way.
     if (resolved.includes('node_modules')) {
-      const versionHash = server?.optimizeDepsMetadata?.hash
+      const versionHash = server?._optimizeDepsMetadata?.hash
       if (versionHash) {
         resolved = injectQuery(resolved, `v=${versionHash}`)
       }
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ export function tryOptimizedResolve(
   server: ViteDevServer
 ): string | undefined {
   const cacheDir = server.config.optimizeCacheDir
-  const depData = server.optimizeDepsMetadata
+  const depData = server._optimizeDepsMetadata
   if (cacheDir && depData) {
     const [id, q] = rawId.split(`?`, 2)
     const query = q ? `?${q}` : ``
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
index 17689893ebdba1..52929b7c663a2a 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import {
 import { TransformOptions as EsbuildTransformOptions } from 'esbuild'
 import { DepOptimizationMetadata, optimizeDeps } from '../optimizer'
 import { ssrLoadModule } from './ssrModuleLoader'
+import { resolveSSRExternal } from '../ssrExternal'
 
 export interface ServerOptions {
   host?: string
@@ -197,7 +198,12 @@ export interface ViteDevServer {
   /**
    * @internal
    */
-  optimizeDepsMetadata: DepOptimizationMetadata | null
+  _optimizeDepsMetadata: DepOptimizationMetadata | null
+  /**
+   * Deps that are extenralized
+   * @internal
+   */
+  _ssrExternals: string[] | null
 }
 
 export async function createServer(
@@ -239,12 +245,14 @@ export async function createServer(
     pluginContainer: container,
     ws,
     moduleGraph,
-    optimizeDepsMetadata: null,
     transformWithEsbuild,
     transformRequest(url, options) {
       return transformRequest(url, server, options)
     },
     ssrLoadModule(url) {
+      if (!server._ssrExternals) {
+        server._ssrExternals = resolveSSRExternal(config.root)
+      }
       return ssrLoadModule(url, server)
     },
     listen(port?: number) {
@@ -257,7 +265,9 @@ export async function createServer(
         container.close(),
         closeHttpServer()
       ])
-    }
+    },
+    _optimizeDepsMetadata: null,
+    _ssrExternals: null
   }
 
   process.once('SIGTERM', async () => {
@@ -373,7 +383,7 @@ export async function createServer(
       // after optimization, read updated optimization metadata
       const dataPath = path.resolve(config.optimizeCacheDir, 'metadata.json')
       if (fs.existsSync(dataPath)) {
-        server.optimizeDepsMetadata = JSON.parse(
+        server._optimizeDepsMetadata = JSON.parse(
           fs.readFileSync(dataPath, 'utf-8')
         )
       }
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/ssrExternal.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/ssrExternal.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..423dcbd5b17903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/ssrExternal.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import fs from 'fs'
+import path from 'path'
+import { tryNodeResolve } from './plugins/resolve'
+import { lookupFile, resolveFrom } from './utils'
+
+/**
+ * Heuristics for determining whether a dependency should be externalized for
+ * server-side rendering.
+ */
+export function resolveSSRExternal(root: string): string[] {
+  const pkgContent = lookupFile(root, ['package.json'])
+  if (!pkgContent) {
+    return []
+  }
+  const pkg = JSON.parse(pkgContent)
+  const ssrExternals = Object.keys(pkg.devDependencies || {})
+  const deps = Object.keys(pkg.dependencies || {})
+  for (const dep of deps) {
+    const entry = tryNodeResolve(dep, root, false)?.id
+    let requireEntry
+    try {
+      requireEntry = require.resolve(dep, { paths: [root] })
+    } catch (e) {
+      continue
+    }
+    if (!entry) {
+      // no esm entry but has require entry (is this even possible?)
+      ssrExternals.push(dep)
+      continue
+    }
+    // node resolve and esm resolve resolves to the same file
+    if (path.extname(entry) !== '.js') {
+      // entry is not js, cannot externalize
+      continue
+    }
+    if (!entry.includes('node_modules')) {
+      // entry is not a node dep, possibly linked - don't externalize
+      // instead, trace its dependencies.
+      const depRoot = path.dirname(resolveFrom(`${dep}/package.json`, root))
+      ssrExternals.push(...resolveSSRExternal(depRoot))
+      continue
+    }
+    if (entry !== requireEntry) {
+      // has separate esm/require entry, assume require entry is cjs
+      ssrExternals.push(dep)
+    } else {
+      // node resolve and esm resolve resolves to the same file.
+      // check if the entry is cjs
+      const content = fs.readFileSync(entry, 'utf-8')
+      if (/\bmodule\.exports\b|\bexports[.\[]|\brequire\s*\(/.test(content)) {
+        ssrExternals.push(dep)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return [...new Set(ssrExternals)]
+}