diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index cd2b9acc79..ad354a8668 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@ option('dtrace', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'use dtrace for st
 option('firewalld', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'firewalld support')
 # dep:firewalld
 option('firewalld_zone', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'whether to install firewalld libvirt zone')
-option('firewall_backend_default_1', type: 'string', value: 'iptables', description: 'first firewall backend to try when none is specified')
-option('firewall_backend_default_2', type: 'string', value: 'nftables', description: 'second firewall backend to try when none is specified (and first is unavailable)')
+option('firewall_backend_default_1', type: 'string', value: 'nftables', description: 'first firewall backend to try  when none is specified')
+option('firewall_backend_default_2', type: 'string', value: 'iptables', description: 'second firewall backend to try when none is specified (and first is unavailable)')
 option('host_validate', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'build virt-host-validate')
 option('init_script', type: 'combo', choices: ['systemd', 'openrc', 'check', 'none'], value: 'check', description: 'Style of init script to install')
 option('loader_nvram', type: 'string', value: '', description: 'Pass list of pairs of <loader>:<nvram> paths. Both pairs and list items are separated by a colon.')