diff --git a/packages/playground/vue/vite.config.ts b/packages/playground/vue/vite.config.ts
index 82efdac5e9f876..a9ca552cbccda2 100644
--- a/packages/playground/vue/vite.config.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/vue/vite.config.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
+import { defineConfig, splitVendorChunkPlugin } from 'vite'
 import vuePlugin from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
 import { vueI18nPlugin } from './CustomBlockPlugin'
 
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
     vuePlugin({
       reactivityTransform: true
     }),
+    splitVendorChunkPlugin(),
     vueI18nPlugin
   ],
   build: {
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
index 84ffb93b432f15..bb724f80415113 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/build.ts
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ import type {
   OutputOptions,
   RollupOutput,
   ExternalOption,
-  GetManualChunk,
-  GetModuleInfo,
   WatcherOptions,
   RollupWatcher,
   RollupError,
@@ -37,7 +35,6 @@ import { dataURIPlugin } from './plugins/dataUri'
 import { buildImportAnalysisPlugin } from './plugins/importAnalysisBuild'
 import { resolveSSRExternal, shouldExternalizeForSSR } from './ssr/ssrExternal'
 import { ssrManifestPlugin } from './ssr/ssrManifestPlugin'
-import { isCSSRequest } from './plugins/css'
 import type { DepOptimizationMetadata } from './optimizer'
 import { scanImports } from './optimizer/scan'
 import { assetImportMetaUrlPlugin } from './plugins/assetImportMetaUrl'
@@ -509,13 +506,6 @@ async function doBuild(
         // #1048 add `Symbol.toStringTag` for module default export
         namespaceToStringTag: true,
         inlineDynamicImports: ssr && typeof input === 'string',
-        manualChunks:
-          !ssr &&
-          !libOptions &&
-          output?.format !== 'umd' &&
-          output?.format !== 'iife'
-            ? createMoveToVendorChunkFn(config)
-            : undefined,
         ...output
       }
     }
@@ -642,55 +632,6 @@ function getPkgName(root: string) {
   return name?.startsWith('@') ? name.split('/')[1] : name
 }
 
-function createMoveToVendorChunkFn(config: ResolvedConfig): GetManualChunk {
-  const cache = new Map<string, boolean>()
-  return (id, { getModuleInfo }) => {
-    if (
-      id.includes('node_modules') &&
-      !isCSSRequest(id) &&
-      staticImportedByEntry(id, getModuleInfo, cache)
-    ) {
-      return 'vendor'
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-function staticImportedByEntry(
-  id: string,
-  getModuleInfo: GetModuleInfo,
-  cache: Map<string, boolean>,
-  importStack: string[] = []
-): boolean {
-  if (cache.has(id)) {
-    return cache.get(id) as boolean
-  }
-  if (importStack.includes(id)) {
-    // circular deps!
-    cache.set(id, false)
-    return false
-  }
-  const mod = getModuleInfo(id)
-  if (!mod) {
-    cache.set(id, false)
-    return false
-  }
-
-  if (mod.isEntry) {
-    cache.set(id, true)
-    return true
-  }
-  const someImporterIs = mod.importers.some((importer) =>
-    staticImportedByEntry(
-      importer,
-      getModuleInfo,
-      cache,
-      importStack.concat(id)
-    )
-  )
-  cache.set(id, someImporterIs)
-  return someImporterIs
-}
-
 export function resolveLibFilename(
   libOptions: LibraryOptions,
   format: ModuleFormat,
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
index 158368872877ac..147c834d3ba87f 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/index.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ export { send } from './server/send'
 export { createLogger, printHttpServerUrls } from './logger'
 export { transformWithEsbuild } from './plugins/esbuild'
 export { resolvePackageEntry } from './plugins/resolve'
+export {
+  splitVendorChunkPlugin,
+  splitVendorChunk
+} from './plugins/splitVendorChunk'
 export { resolvePackageData } from './packages'
 export { normalizePath } from './utils'
 
@@ -91,3 +95,4 @@ export type { Terser } from 'types/terser'
 export type { RollupCommonJSOptions } from 'types/commonjs'
 export type { RollupDynamicImportVarsOptions } from 'types/dynamicImportVars'
 export type { Matcher, AnymatchPattern, AnymatchFn } from 'types/anymatch'
+export type { SplitVendorChunkCache } from './plugins/splitVendorChunk'
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/splitVendorChunk.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/splitVendorChunk.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..9e8958f4620372
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/splitVendorChunk.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import type { Plugin } from '../plugin'
+import type { OutputOptions, GetManualChunk, GetModuleInfo } from 'rollup'
+import { isCSSRequest } from './css'
+
+// Use splitVendorChunkPlugin() to get the same manualChunks strategy as Vite 2.7
+// We don't recomment using this strategy as a general solution moving forward
+
+// splitVendorChunk is a simple index/vendor strategy that was used in Vite
+// until v2.8. It is exposed to let people continue to use it in case it was
+// working well for their setups.
+// The cache needs to be reset on buildStart for watch mode to work correctly
+// Don't use this manualChunks strategy for ssr, lib mode, and 'umd' or 'iife'
+
+export class SplitVendorChunkCache {
+  cache: Map<string, boolean>
+  constructor() {
+    this.cache = new Map<string, boolean>()
+  }
+  reset() {
+    this.cache = new Map<string, boolean>()
+  }
+}
+
+export function splitVendorChunk({
+  cache = new SplitVendorChunkCache()
+}): GetManualChunk {
+  return (id, { getModuleInfo }) => {
+    if (
+      id.includes('node_modules') &&
+      !isCSSRequest(id) &&
+      staticImportedByEntry(id, getModuleInfo, cache.cache)
+    ) {
+      return 'vendor'
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+function staticImportedByEntry(
+  id: string,
+  getModuleInfo: GetModuleInfo,
+  cache: Map<string, boolean>,
+  importStack: string[] = []
+): boolean {
+  if (cache.has(id)) {
+    return cache.get(id) as boolean
+  }
+  if (importStack.includes(id)) {
+    // circular deps!
+    cache.set(id, false)
+    return false
+  }
+  const mod = getModuleInfo(id)
+  if (!mod) {
+    cache.set(id, false)
+    return false
+  }
+
+  if (mod.isEntry) {
+    cache.set(id, true)
+    return true
+  }
+  const someImporterIs = mod.importers.some((importer) =>
+    staticImportedByEntry(
+      importer,
+      getModuleInfo,
+      cache,
+      importStack.concat(id)
+    )
+  )
+  cache.set(id, someImporterIs)
+  return someImporterIs
+}
+
+export function splitVendorChunkPlugin(): Plugin {
+  const cache = new SplitVendorChunkCache()
+  return {
+    name: 'vite:split-vendor-chunk',
+    config(config) {
+      const build = config.build ?? {}
+      const format = (build.rollupOptions?.output as OutputOptions)?.format
+      if (!build.ssr && !build.lib && format !== 'umd' && format !== 'iife') {
+        return {
+          build: {
+            rollupOptions: {
+              manualChunks: splitVendorChunk({ cache })
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    buildStart() {
+      cache.reset()
+    }
+  }
+}