diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/nuxt.config.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/nuxt.config.ts
index d7b01c438..c154ef59d 100644
--- a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/nuxt.config.ts
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/nuxt.config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // https://nuxt.com/docs/api/configuration/nuxt-config
 export default defineNuxtConfig({
   modules: ['@nuxtjs/color-mode', '@nuxt/ui'],
+  pages: false,
   devtools: { enabled: true },
   compatibilityDate: '2024-04-03',
 })
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/test/nuxt/components.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/test/nuxt/components.spec.ts
index 6d2aff508..483b4de3d 100644
--- a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/test/nuxt/components.spec.ts
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app2/test/nuxt/components.spec.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import { mountSuspended } from '@nuxt/test-utils/runtime'
 
 import Badge from '@nuxt/ui/components/Badge.vue'
+import Breadcrumb from '@nuxt/ui/components/Breadcrumb.vue'
+import Header from '@nuxt/ui/components/Header.vue'
 
 describe('components', () => {
   it('ui/Badge', async () => {
@@ -12,4 +14,41 @@ describe('components', () => {
     })
     expect(wrapper.text()).toBe('Hello')
   })
+
+  it('ui/Header', async () => {
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(Header, {
+      props: {
+        title: 'App',
+        to: '/',
+      },
+    })
+    expect(wrapper.text()).toBe('App')
+    expect(wrapper.find('a')?.attributes('href')).toBe('/')
+  })
+
+  it('ui/Breadcrumb', async () => {
+    const component = await mountSuspended(Breadcrumb, {
+      props: {
+        items: [
+          {
+            label: 'Home',
+            to: '/',
+          },
+          {
+            label: 'Help',
+            to: '/help',
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    })
+
+    const links = component.findAll('a')
+    expect(links).toHaveLength(2)
+
+    expect(links[0]?.text()).toBe('Home')
+    expect(links[0]?.attributes('href')).toBe('/')
+
+    expect(links[1]?.text()).toBe('Help')
+    expect(links[1]?.attributes('href')).toBe('/help')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/app/pages/index.vue b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/app/pages/index.vue
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7bd9480b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/app/pages/index.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<template>
+  Index
+</template>
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/nuxt.config.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/nuxt.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b377d542b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/nuxt.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+// https://nuxt.com/docs/api/configuration/nuxt-config
+export default defineNuxtConfig({
+  imports: {
+    autoImport: false,
+  },
+  devtools: { enabled: true },
+  compatibilityDate: '2024-04-03',
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-off/nuxt-link.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-off/nuxt-link.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..34b172c2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-off/nuxt-link.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { enableAutoUnmount } from '@vue/test-utils'
+import { mountSuspended } from '@nuxt/test-utils/runtime'
+
+import { NuxtLink } from '#components'
+
+type DefaultSlotProp = { isActive: boolean, isExactActive: boolean }
+
+describe('NuxtLink without pages', () => {
+  enableAutoUnmount(afterEach)
+
+  it('should mount', async () => {
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(NuxtLink, {
+      props: {
+        to: '/',
+      },
+      slots: {
+        default: () => 'Home',
+      },
+    })
+
+    const a = wrapper.find('a')
+    expect(a.exists()).toBe(true)
+    expect(a.attributes('href')).toBe('/')
+    expect(a.text()).toBe('Home')
+  })
+
+  it('should mount custom', async () => {
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(NuxtLink, {
+      props: {
+        to: '/',
+        custom: true,
+      },
+      slots: {
+        default: ({ isActive, isExactActive }: DefaultSlotProp) =>
+          `Home:${isActive}:${isExactActive}`,
+      },
+    })
+
+    expect(wrapper.text()).toBe('Home:undefined:undefined')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-on/nuxt-link.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-on/nuxt-link.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a238e08b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/test/nuxt/pages-on/nuxt-link.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { enableAutoUnmount } from '@vue/test-utils'
+import { mountSuspended } from '@nuxt/test-utils/runtime'
+
+import { NuxtLink } from '#components'
+
+type DefaultSlotProp = { isActive: boolean, isExactActive: boolean }
+
+describe('NuxtLink with pages', () => {
+  enableAutoUnmount(afterEach)
+
+  it('should mount', async () => {
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(NuxtLink, {
+      props: {
+        to: '/',
+      },
+      slots: {
+        default: () => 'Home',
+      },
+    })
+
+    const a = wrapper.find('a')
+    expect(a.exists()).toBe(true)
+    expect(a.attributes('href')).toBe('/')
+    expect(a.text()).toBe('Home')
+  })
+
+  it('should mount custom', async () => {
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(NuxtLink, {
+      props: {
+        to: '/',
+        custom: true,
+      },
+      slots: {
+        default: ({ isActive, isExactActive }: DefaultSlotProp) =>
+          `Home:${isActive}:${isExactActive}`,
+      },
+    })
+
+    expect(wrapper.text()).toBe('Home:true:true')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/tsconfig.json b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ae5970c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "files": [],
+  "references": [
+    {
+      "path": "./.nuxt/tsconfig.app.json"
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "./.nuxt/tsconfig.server.json"
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "./.nuxt/tsconfig.shared.json"
+    },
+    {
+      "path": "./.nuxt/tsconfig.node.json"
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-off.config.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-off.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c953af449
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-off.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
+import { defineVitestProject } from '@nuxt/test-utils/config'
+
+export default defineVitestProject({
+  test: {
+    name: 'nuxt-app4:pages-off',
+    include: ['test/nuxt/pages-off/*.spec.ts'],
+    environmentOptions: {
+      nuxt: {
+        rootDir: fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)),
+        overrides: {
+          pages: false,
+        },
+      },
+    },
+  },
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-on.config.ts b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-on.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc7be2729
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/app4/vitest.pages-on.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
+import { defineVitestProject } from '@nuxt/test-utils/config'
+
+export default defineVitestProject({
+  test: {
+    name: 'nuxt-app4:pages-on',
+    include: ['test/nuxt/pages-on/*.spec.ts'],
+    environmentOptions: {
+      nuxt: {
+        rootDir: fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)),
+        overrides: {
+          pages: true,
+        },
+      },
+    },
+  },
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/package.json b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/package.json
index 851033ee0..ab58a455f 100644
--- a/examples/app-vitest-workspace/package.json
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-workspace/package.json
@@ -7,7 +7,11 @@
     "dev": "nuxt dev",
     "generate": "nuxt generate",
     "preview": "nuxt preview",
-    "dev:prepare": "nuxt prepare app1 && nuxt prepare app2 && nuxt prepare app3",
+    "dev:prepare": "pnpm run '/dev:prepare:.*/'",
+    "dev:prepare:app1": "nuxt prepare app1",
+    "dev:prepare:app2": "nuxt prepare app2",
+    "dev:prepare:app3": "nuxt prepare app3",
+    "dev:prepare:app4": "nuxt prepare app4",
     "postinstall": "pnpm dev:prepare",
     "test": "vitest run"
   },
diff --git a/src/runtime-utils/components/RouterLink.ts b/src/runtime-utils/components/RouterLink.ts
index f26904920..1422da17a 100644
--- a/src/runtime-utils/components/RouterLink.ts
+++ b/src/runtime-utils/components/RouterLink.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
-import { defineComponent, h } from '#imports'
-import { useLink } from 'vue-router'
+import { defineComponent, h, useRouter, useNuxtApp } from '#imports'
+import type { useLink as useLinkFn } from 'vue-router'
+
+function getUseLink(nuxtApp: ReturnType<typeof useNuxtApp>) {
+  const linkComponent = nuxtApp.vueApp._context.components.RouterLink
+  if (!linkComponent || typeof linkComponent !== 'object') return undefined
+  if (typeof linkComponent.useLink !== 'function') return undefined
+  return linkComponent.useLink.bind(linkComponent) as typeof useLinkFn
+}
 
 export const RouterLink = defineComponent({
   functional: true,
@@ -16,6 +23,31 @@ export const RouterLink = defineComponent({
     ariaCurrentValue: String,
   },
   setup: (props, { slots }) => {
+    const app = useNuxtApp()
+    const useLink = getUseLink(app)
+
+    if (!useLink) {
+      const navigate = () => {}
+      const router = useRouter()
+      return () => {
+        const route = router.resolve(props.to)
+
+        return props.custom
+          ? slots.default?.({ href: route.href, navigate, route })
+          : h(
+              'a',
+              {
+                href: route.href,
+                onClick: (e: MouseEvent) => {
+                  e.preventDefault()
+                  return navigate()
+                },
+              },
+              slots,
+            )
+      }
+    }
+
     const link = useLink(props)
 
     return () => {