diff --git a/packages/react/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/react/CHANGELOG.md
index a658fddc..43fb4636 100644
--- a/packages/react/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/react/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 - call `onEnd` in XYResizer thanks @tonyf
 - cleanup `getPositionWithOrigin` usage
 - use `setAttributes` flag for dimension change when `width`/`height` should be set
+- use `replace: false` as the default for `updateNode` function
 
 ## 12.0.0-next.14
 
diff --git a/packages/react/src/hooks/useReactFlow.ts b/packages/react/src/hooks/useReactFlow.ts
index da407778..56c9ae5d 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/hooks/useReactFlow.ts
+++ b/packages/react/src/hooks/useReactFlow.ts
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ export function useReactFlow<NodeType extends Node = Node, EdgeType extends Edge
   );
 
   const updateNode = useCallback<Instance.UpdateNode<NodeType>>(
-    (id, nodeUpdate, options = { replace: true }) => {
+    (id, nodeUpdate, options = { replace: false }) => {
       setNodes((prevNodes) =>
         prevNodes.map((node) => {
           if (node.id === id) {