diff --git a/src/server/kbn_server.js b/src/server/kbn_server.js
index 8ad9d9c0709d..74ae04fde0e0 100644
--- a/src/server/kbn_server.js
+++ b/src/server/kbn_server.js
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ module.exports = class KbnServer {
       // find plugins and set this.plugins
       require('./plugins/scan'),
 
+      // make sure that all plugins expect the current version of Kibana
+      require('./plugins/check_version'),
+
       // tell the config we are done loading plugins
       require('./config/complete'),
 
diff --git a/src/server/plugins/check_version.js b/src/server/plugins/check_version.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6af62eab052a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/plugins/check_version.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import pluginInit from './plugin_init';
+import { cleanVersion, versionSatisfies } from '../../utils/version';
+import _ from 'lodash';
+
+module.exports = async function (kbnServer, server, config) {
+  const warningMessages = new Set();
+  const plugins = kbnServer.plugins;
+
+  for (let plugin of plugins) {
+    // Plugins must specify their version, and by default that version should match
+    // the version of kibana down to the patch level. If these two versions need
+    // to diverge, they can specify a kibana.version to indicate the version of
+    // kibana the plugin is intended to work with.
+    const version = _.get(plugin, 'pkg.kibana.version', _.get(plugin, 'pkg.version'));
+    const name = _.get(plugin, 'pkg.name');
+
+    if (version === 'kibana') continue;
+
+    if (!versionSatisfies(
+      cleanVersion(version),
+      cleanVersion(kbnServer.version))) {
+      warningMessages.add(`Plugin "${name}" expected Kibana version "${version}" and was disabled.`);
+      plugins.delete(plugin);
+    }
+  }
+
+  //because a plugin pack can contain more than one actual plugin, (for example x-pack)
+  //we make sure that the warning messages are unique
+  for (let message of warningMessages) {
+    server.log(['warning'], message);
+  }
+
+  return;
+};