diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
index cc57f4153a37..882299efd112 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
@@ -198,11 +198,9 @@ export function resolveConfig(
     resolved.related = toArray(options.related).map(file => resolve(resolved.root, file))
 
   if (mode !== 'benchmark') {
-    resolved.reporters = Array.from(new Set([
-      ...toArray(resolved.reporters),
-      // @ts-expect-error from CLI
-      ...toArray(resolved.reporter),
-    ])).filter(Boolean)
+    // @ts-expect-error from CLI
+    const reporters = resolved.reporter ?? resolved.reporters
+    resolved.reporters = Array.from(new Set(toArray(reporters))).filter(Boolean)
   }
 
   if (!resolved.reporters.length)
diff --git a/test/reporters/tests/custom-reporter.spec.ts b/test/reporters/tests/custom-reporter.spec.ts
index 9524bf911726..e3598aa361b5 100644
--- a/test/reporters/tests/custom-reporter.spec.ts
+++ b/test/reporters/tests/custom-reporter.spec.ts
@@ -71,4 +71,10 @@ describe.concurrent('custom reporters', () => {
     const stdout = await runWithRetry('--config', 'without-custom-reporter.vitest.config.ts', '--reporter', customJSReporterPath)
     expect(stdout).includes('hello from custom reporter')
   }, TIMEOUT)
+
+  test('overrides reporters by given a CLI argument --reporter works', async () => {
+    const stdout = await runWithRetry('--config', 'deps-reporter.vitest.config.ts', '--reporter', customJSReporterPath)
+    expect(stdout).not.includes('hello from package reporter')
+    expect(stdout).includes('hello from custom reporter')
+  }, TIMEOUT)
 })