diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
index 808a30b5d4d..b86e36d772c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommand.java
@@ -88,5 +88,12 @@ final class RemovePluginCommand extends SettingCommand {
         pluginPaths.add(tmpPluginDir);
 
         IOUtils.rm(pluginPaths.toArray(new Path[pluginPaths.size()]));
+
+        // we preserve the config files in case the user is upgrading the plugin, but we print
+        // a message so the user knows in case they want to remove manually
+        final Path pluginConfigDir = env.configFile().resolve(pluginName);
+        if (Files.exists(pluginConfigDir)) {
+            terminal.println("-> Preserving plugin config files: " + pluginConfigDir);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
index e2910be64f0..b54c5ed00e4 100644
--- a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
+++ b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/RemovePluginCommandTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.plugins;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.cli.MockTerminal;
+import org.elasticsearch.cli.UserException;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+import org.junit.Before;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.DirectoryStream;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -26,13 +34,8 @@ import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
-import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
-import org.elasticsearch.cli.UserException;
-import org.elasticsearch.cli.MockTerminal;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
-import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
-import org.junit.Before;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.not;
 
 @LuceneTestCase.SuppressFileSystems("*")
 public class RemovePluginCommandTests extends ESTestCase {
@@ -109,4 +112,22 @@ public class RemovePluginCommandTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertRemoveCleaned(env);
     }
 
+    public void testConfigDirPreserved() throws Exception {
+        Files.createDirectories(env.pluginsFile().resolve("fake"));
+        final Path configDir = env.configFile().resolve("fake");
+        Files.createDirectories(configDir);
+        Files.createFile(configDir.resolve("fake.yml"));
+        final MockTerminal terminal = removePlugin("fake", home);
+        assertTrue(Files.exists(env.configFile().resolve("fake")));
+        assertThat(terminal.getOutput(), containsString("-> Preserving plugin config files: " + configDir));
+        assertRemoveCleaned(env);
+    }
+
+    public void testNoConfigDirPreserved() throws Exception {
+        Files.createDirectories(env.pluginsFile().resolve("fake"));
+        final Path configDir = env.configFile().resolve("fake");
+        final MockTerminal terminal = removePlugin("fake", home);
+        assertThat(terminal.getOutput(), not(containsString("-> Preserving plugin config files: " + configDir)));
+    }
+
 }