diff --git a/Documentation/pretty-options.txt b/Documentation/pretty-options.txt
index dc685be363..dcd501ee50 100644
--- a/Documentation/pretty-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/pretty-options.txt
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ message by 4 spaces (i.e.  'medium', which is the default, 'full',
 and 'fuller').
 
 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
+--show-notes-by-default::
+	Show the default notes (see `--notes`) unless subsequent arguments
+	are used to display specific notes.
+
 --notes[=<ref>]::
 	Show the notes (see linkgit:git-notes[1]) that annotate the
 	commit, when showing the commit log message.  This is the default
diff --git a/range-diff.c b/range-diff.c
index 2e86063491..56f6870ff9 100644
--- a/range-diff.c
+++ b/range-diff.c
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ static int read_patches(const char *range, struct string_list *list,
 		     "--output-indicator-context=#",
 		     "--no-abbrev-commit",
 		     "--pretty=medium",
-		     "--notes",
+		     "--show-notes-by-default",
 		     NULL);
 	strvec_push(&cp.args, range);
 	if (other_arg)
diff --git a/revision.c b/revision.c
index 2f4c53ea20..49d385257a 100644
--- a/revision.c
+++ b/revision.c
@@ -2484,6 +2484,8 @@ static int handle_revision_opt(struct rev_info *revs, int argc, const char **arg
 		revs->break_bar = xstrdup(optarg);
 		revs->track_linear = 1;
 		revs->track_first_time = 1;
+	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--show-notes-by-default")) {
+		revs->show_notes_by_default = 1;
 	} else if (skip_prefix(arg, "--show-notes=", &optarg) ||
 		   skip_prefix(arg, "--notes=", &optarg)) {
 		if (starts_with(arg, "--show-notes=") &&
@@ -3054,6 +3056,11 @@ int setup_revisions(int argc, const char **argv, struct rev_info *revs, struct s
 	if (revs->expand_tabs_in_log < 0)
 		revs->expand_tabs_in_log = revs->expand_tabs_in_log_default;
 
+	if (!revs->show_notes_given && revs->show_notes_by_default) {
+		enable_default_display_notes(&revs->notes_opt, &revs->show_notes);
+		revs->show_notes_given = 1;
+	}
+
 	return left;
 }
 
diff --git a/revision.h b/revision.h
index 82ab400139..50091bbd13 100644
--- a/revision.h
+++ b/revision.h
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ struct rev_info {
 			shown_dashes:1,
 			show_merge:1,
 			show_notes_given:1,
+			show_notes_by_default:1,
 			show_signature:1,
 			pretty_given:1,
 			abbrev_commit:1,
diff --git a/t/t3206-range-diff.sh b/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
index b5f4d6a653..b33afa1c6a 100755
--- a/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
+++ b/t/t3206-range-diff.sh
@@ -662,6 +662,20 @@ test_expect_success 'range-diff with multiple --notes' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+# `range-diff` should act like `log` with regards to notes
+test_expect_success 'range-diff with --notes=custom does not show default notes' '
+	git notes add -m "topic note" topic &&
+	git notes add -m "unmodified note" unmodified &&
+	git notes --ref=custom add -m "topic note" topic &&
+	git notes --ref=custom add -m "unmodified note" unmodified &&
+	test_when_finished git notes remove topic unmodified &&
+	test_when_finished git notes --ref=custom remove topic unmodified &&
+	git range-diff --notes=custom main..topic main..unmodified \
+		>actual &&
+	! grep "## Notes ##" actual &&
+	grep "## Notes (custom) ##" actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'format-patch --range-diff does not compare notes by default' '
 	git notes add -m "topic note" topic &&
 	git notes add -m "unmodified note" unmodified &&
@@ -679,6 +693,20 @@ test_expect_success 'format-patch --range-diff does not compare notes by default
 	! grep "note" 0000-*
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'format-patch --notes=custom --range-diff only compares custom notes' '
+	git notes add -m "topic note" topic &&
+	git notes --ref=custom add -m "topic note (custom)" topic &&
+	git notes add -m "unmodified note" unmodified &&
+	git notes --ref=custom add -m "unmodified note (custom)" unmodified &&
+	test_when_finished git notes remove topic unmodified &&
+	test_when_finished git notes --ref=custom remove topic unmodified &&
+	git format-patch --notes=custom --cover-letter --range-diff=$prev \
+		main..unmodified >actual &&
+	test_when_finished "rm 000?-*" &&
+	grep "## Notes (custom) ##" 0000-* &&
+	! grep "## Notes ##" 0000-*
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'format-patch --range-diff with --no-notes' '
 	git notes add -m "topic note" topic &&
 	git notes add -m "unmodified note" unmodified &&
