diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a2d9fc68e..dd3ee39df 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ be deprecated eventually.
 - [#2637](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/issues/2637): Add support for precision in http_listener
 - [#2636](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/2636): Add `message_len_max` option to `kafka_consumer` input
 - [#1100](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/issues/1100): Add collectd parser
+- [#1820](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/issues/1820): easier plugin testing without outputs
 
 ### Bugfixes
 
diff --git a/cmd/telegraf/telegraf.go b/cmd/telegraf/telegraf.go
index 40e90a1ec..af11e6682 100644
--- a/cmd/telegraf/telegraf.go
+++ b/cmd/telegraf/telegraf.go
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ func reloadLoop(
 				log.Fatal("E! " + err.Error())
 			}
 		}
-		if len(c.Outputs) == 0 {
+		if !*fTest && len(c.Outputs) == 0 {
 			log.Fatalf("E! Error: no outputs found, did you provide a valid config file?")
 		}
 		if len(c.Inputs) == 0 {