diff --git a/tools/run_tests/performance/scenario_config.py b/tools/run_tests/performance/scenario_config.py
index 0219afe9dce2e89397b08ae1dae0de81983f4867..0ac5dfc5bf035aab1bc0f5a86a7f5f95c475b604 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/performance/scenario_config.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/performance/scenario_config.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ BENCHMARK_SECONDS=30
 SMOKETEST='smoketest'
 SCALABLE='scalable'
 SWEEP='sweep'
+DEFAULT_CATEGORIES=[SCALABLE, SMOKETEST]
 
 SECURE_SECARGS = {'use_test_ca': True,
                   'server_host_override': 'foo.test.google.fr'}
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ def _ping_pong_scenario(name, rpc_type,
                         server_core_limit=0,
                         async_server_threads=0,
                         warmup_seconds=WARMUP_SECONDS,
-                        categories=[],
+                        categories=DEFAULT_CATEGORIES,
                         channels=None,
                         outstanding=None,
                         payload_size=None):
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_performance_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/run_performance_tests.py
index 25f5d4639f37aac23fd062d144e38104cb3feace..5458715b661fe37eb7404afa974ef4dd615dd917 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_performance_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_performance_tests.py
@@ -300,8 +300,8 @@ def create_scenarios(languages, workers_by_lang, remote_host=None, regex='.*',
   for language in languages:
     for scenario_json in language.scenarios():
       if re.search(args.regex, scenario_json['name']):
-        categories = scenario_json.get('CATEGORIES', [])
-        if category in categories or (category == 'all' and categories != ['sweep']):
+        categories = scenario_json.get('CATEGORIES', ['scalable', 'smoketest'])
+        if category in categories or category == 'all':
           workers = workers_by_lang[str(language)]
           # 'SERVER_LANGUAGE' is an indicator for this script to pick
           # a server in different language.