diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 53fe3c1..fed552a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 ### Added
 ### Changed
 - error messages for ls command
+- GHORG_BRANCH if not set, will first look for the repos default branch, if no default branch is found on repo will fall back to using master as default
 ### Deprecated
 ### Removed
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/cmd/clone.go b/cmd/clone.go
index 79510a0..a39dec7 100644
--- a/cmd/clone.go
+++ b/cmd/clone.go
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ func CloneAllRepos() {
 	limit := limiter.NewConcurrencyLimiter(l)
 	for _, target := range cloneTargets {
 		appName := getAppNameFromURL(target.URL)
-		branch := os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+		branch := target.CloneBranch
 		repo := target
 
 		limit.Execute(func() {
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ func CloneAllRepos() {
 				}
 			}
 
-			colorlog.PrintSuccess("Success " + repo.URL)
+			colorlog.PrintSuccess("Success cloning repo: " + repo.URL + " -> branch: " + branch)
 		})
 
 	}
@@ -484,10 +484,13 @@ func PrintConfigs() {
 	colorlog.PrintInfo("* SCM           : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_SCM_TYPE"))
 	colorlog.PrintInfo("* Type          : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_TYPE"))
 	colorlog.PrintInfo("* Protocol      : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL"))
-	colorlog.PrintInfo("* Branch        : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH"))
 	colorlog.PrintInfo("* Location      : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_CLONE_TO"))
 	colorlog.PrintInfo("* Concurrency   : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_CONCURRENCY"))
 
+	if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") != "" {
+		colorlog.PrintInfo("* Branch        : " + getGhorgBranch())
+	}
+
 	if os.Getenv("GHORG_SCM_BASE_URL") != "" {
 		colorlog.PrintInfo("* Base URL      : " + os.Getenv("GHORG_SCM_BASE_URL"))
 	}
@@ -511,6 +514,14 @@ func PrintConfigs() {
 	fmt.Println("")
 }
 
+func getGhorgBranch() string {
+	if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+		return "default branch"
+	}
+
+	return os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+}
+
 func ensureTrailingSlash(path string) string {
 	if string(path[len(path)-1]) == "/" {
 		return path
diff --git a/configs/configs.go b/configs/configs.go
index 7e1da9c..f586824 100644
--- a/configs/configs.go
+++ b/configs/configs.go
@@ -121,8 +121,6 @@ func getOrSetDefaults(envVar string) {
 		switch envVar {
 		case "GHORG_ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_CLONE_TO":
 			os.Setenv(envVar, HomeDir()+"/Desktop/ghorg/")
-		case "GHORG_BRANCH":
-			os.Setenv(envVar, "master")
 		case "GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL":
 			os.Setenv(envVar, "https")
 		case "GHORG_CLONE_TYPE":
diff --git a/configs/configs_test.go b/configs/configs_test.go
index a1a4263..345b80f 100644
--- a/configs/configs_test.go
+++ b/configs/configs_test.go
@@ -9,15 +9,10 @@ import (
 
 func TestDefaultSettings(t *testing.T) {
 
-	branch := os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
 	protocol := os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL")
 	scm := os.Getenv("GHORG_SCM_TYPE")
 	cloneType := os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_TYPE")
 
-	if branch != "master" {
-		t.Errorf("Default branch should be master, got: %v", branch)
-	}
-
 	if protocol != "https" {
 		t.Errorf("Default protocol should be https, got: %v", protocol)
 	}
diff --git a/sample-conf.yaml b/sample-conf.yaml
index f58f57d..064230e 100644
--- a/sample-conf.yaml
+++ b/sample-conf.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ GHORG_GITLAB_TOKEN:
 # flag (--preserve-dir)
 GHORG_PRESERVE_DIRECTORY_STRUCTURE:
 
-
 # +-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 # |G|I|T|E|A| |S|P|E|C|I|F|I|C|
 # +-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
@@ -34,7 +33,6 @@ GHORG_PRESERVE_DIRECTORY_STRUCTURE:
 # flag (--token, -t) eg: --token=bGVhdmUgYSBjb21tZW50IG9uIGlzc3VlIDY2
 GHORG_GITEA_TOKEN:
 
-
 # +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 # |B|I|T|B|U|C|K|E|T| |S|P|E|C|I|F|I|C|
 # +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
@@ -47,7 +45,6 @@ GHORG_BITBUCKET_APP_PASSWORD:
 # flag (--bitbucket-username)
 GHORG_BITBUCKET_USERNAME:
 
-
 # +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 # |G|E|N|E|R|A|L| |C|O|N|F|I|G|U|R|A|T|I|O|N|
 # +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
@@ -73,7 +70,8 @@ GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL:
 GHORG_ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_CLONE_TO:
 
 # Branch ghorg resets and leaves checked out
-# default:  master
+# default: default branch
+# NOTE: if no default branch is found on the repo, will fallback to using master
 # flag (--branch, -b)
 GHORG_BRANCH:
 
diff --git a/scm/bitbucket.go b/scm/bitbucket.go
index 753cd38..04c30b1 100644
--- a/scm/bitbucket.go
+++ b/scm/bitbucket.go
@@ -78,6 +78,26 @@ func (_ Bitbucket) filter(resp interface{}) (repoData []Repo, err error) {
 			}
 
 			r := Repo{}
+
+			if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+				var defaultBranch string
+				if clone["mainbranch"] == nil {
+					defaultBranch = "master"
+				} else {
+					defaultBranch = clone["mainbranch"].(map[string]interface{})["name"].(string)
+				}
+
+				r.CloneBranch = defaultBranch
+			} else {
+				r.CloneBranch = os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+			}
+
+			if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+				r.CloneBranch = "master"
+			} else {
+				r.CloneBranch = os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+			}
+
 			if os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL") == "ssh" && linkType == "ssh" {
 				r.URL = link.(string)
 				r.CloneURL = link.(string)
diff --git a/scm/gitea.go b/scm/gitea.go
index 45a152f..331a381 100644
--- a/scm/gitea.go
+++ b/scm/gitea.go
@@ -174,6 +174,16 @@ func (c Gitea) filter(rps []*gitea.Repository) (repoData []Repo, err error) {
 		r := Repo{}
 		r.Path = rp.FullName
 
+		if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+			defaultBranch := rp.DefaultBranch
+			if defaultBranch == "" {
+				defaultBranch = "master"
+			}
+			r.CloneBranch = defaultBranch
+		} else {
+			r.CloneBranch = os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+		}
+
 		if os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL") == "https" {
 			cloneURL := rp.CloneURL
 			if rp.Private {
diff --git a/scm/github.go b/scm/github.go
index 79b1636..345d18b 100644
--- a/scm/github.go
+++ b/scm/github.go
@@ -161,6 +161,17 @@ func (c Github) filter(allRepos []*github.Repository, envTopics []string) []Repo
 		}
 
 		r := Repo{}
+
+		if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+			defaultBranch := ghRepo.GetDefaultBranch()
+			if defaultBranch == "" {
+				defaultBranch = "master"
+			}
+			r.CloneBranch = defaultBranch
+		} else {
+			r.CloneBranch = os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+		}
+
 		if os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL") == "https" {
 			r.CloneURL = c.addTokenToHTTPSCloneURL(*ghRepo.CloneURL, os.Getenv("GHORG_GITHUB_TOKEN"))
 			r.URL = *ghRepo.CloneURL
diff --git a/scm/gitlab.go b/scm/gitlab.go
index 7f60e0b..c29b4fe 100644
--- a/scm/gitlab.go
+++ b/scm/gitlab.go
@@ -152,6 +152,16 @@ func (c Gitlab) filter(ps []*gitlab.Project) []Repo {
 
 		r := Repo{}
 
+		if os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH") == "" {
+			defaultBranch := p.DefaultBranch
+			if defaultBranch == "" {
+				defaultBranch = "master"
+			}
+			r.CloneBranch = defaultBranch
+		} else {
+			r.CloneBranch = os.Getenv("GHORG_BRANCH")
+		}
+
 		r.Path = p.PathWithNamespace
 		if os.Getenv("GHORG_CLONE_PROTOCOL") == "https" {
 			r.CloneURL = c.addTokenToHTTPSCloneURL(p.HTTPURLToRepo, os.Getenv("GHORG_GITLAB_TOKEN"))
diff --git a/scm/structs.go b/scm/structs.go
index f7468bf..23e71ed 100644
--- a/scm/structs.go
+++ b/scm/structs.go
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ package scm
 
 // Repo represents an SCM repo
 type Repo struct {
-	Name     string
-	Path     string
-	URL      string
-	CloneURL string
+	Name        string
+	Path        string
+	URL         string
+	CloneURL    string
+	CloneBranch string
 }