diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 39244f80..535776bc 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -180,8 +180,14 @@ if have_plugins
 	config_h.set('HAVE_PLUGINS', 1)
 endif
 
+autoload_plugins = get_option('autoload-plugins')
+if autoload_plugins
+	config_h.set('AUTOLOAD_PLUGINS', 1)
+endif
+
 summary({
 	'Plugins enabled' : have_plugins,
+	'Autoload plugins' : autoload_plugins,
 	'Lua Plugin support' : have_lua,
 	},
 	section : 'Plugins',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index a3ffb3e1..de0b1c41 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ option('internal-event-debugging',
 	type: 'boolean',
 	value: false,
 	description: 'Enable additional internal event debug tracing. This will print key values to the logs and thus must never be enabled in a release build')
+option('autoload-plugins',
+	type: 'boolean',
+	value: false,
+	description: 'Always load plugins from default plugin paths (only if the caller does not do so)')
 option('lua-plugins',
 	type: 'feature',
 	value: 'auto',
diff --git a/src/libinput-plugin-system.h b/src/libinput-plugin-system.h
index 5dafa8c7..c3d7de6d 100644
--- a/src/libinput-plugin-system.h
+++ b/src/libinput-plugin-system.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ struct libinput_plugin_system {
 	char **directories; /* NULL once loaded == true */
 
 	bool loaded;
+	bool autoload;
 
 	struct list plugins;
 	struct list removed_plugins;
@@ -53,8 +54,7 @@ void
 libinput_plugin_system_init(struct libinput_plugin_system *system);
 
 void
-libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(struct libinput *libinput,
-					     struct libinput_plugin_system *system);
+libinput_plugin_system_autoload(struct libinput *libinput);
 
 void
 libinput_plugin_system_destroy(struct libinput_plugin_system *system);
diff --git a/src/libinput-plugin.c b/src/libinput-plugin.c
index bee11732..a6c6a9ab 100644
--- a/src/libinput-plugin.c
+++ b/src/libinput-plugin.c
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ plugin_log_msg(struct libinput_plugin *plugin,
 	log_msg(plugin->libinput, priority, "%s%s", prefix, message);
 }
 
+static void
+libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(struct libinput *libinput,
+					     struct libinput_plugin_system *system);
+
 struct libinput_plugin *
 libinput_plugin_new(struct libinput *libinput,
 		    const char *name,
@@ -346,6 +350,17 @@ libinput_plugin_notify_device_removed(struct libinput_plugin *plugin,
 		plugin->interface->device_removed(plugin, device);
 }
 
+static void
+plugin_system_append_path(struct libinput_plugin_system *plugin_system,
+			  const char *path)
+{
+	if (strv_find(plugin_system->directories, path, NULL))
+		return;
+
+	plugin_system->directories =
+		strv_append_strdup(plugin_system->directories, path);
+}
+
 LIBINPUT_EXPORT void
 libinput_plugin_system_append_path(struct libinput *libinput, const char *path)
 {
@@ -354,11 +369,9 @@ libinput_plugin_system_append_path(struct libinput *libinput, const char *path)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (strv_find(libinput->plugin_system.directories, path, NULL))
-		return;
+	libinput->plugin_system.autoload = false;
 
-	libinput->plugin_system.directories =
-		strv_append_strdup(libinput->plugin_system.directories, path);
+	plugin_system_append_path(&libinput->plugin_system, path);
 }
 
 LIBINPUT_EXPORT void
@@ -369,8 +382,26 @@ libinput_plugin_system_append_default_paths(struct libinput *libinput)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	libinput_plugin_system_append_path(libinput, LIBINPUT_PLUGIN_ETCDIR);
-	libinput_plugin_system_append_path(libinput, LIBINPUT_PLUGIN_LIBDIR);
+	libinput->plugin_system.autoload = false;
+
+	plugin_system_append_path(&libinput->plugin_system, LIBINPUT_PLUGIN_ETCDIR);
+	plugin_system_append_path(&libinput->plugin_system, LIBINPUT_PLUGIN_LIBDIR);
+}
+
+void
+libinput_plugin_system_autoload(struct libinput *libinput)
+{
+	if (libinput->plugin_system.loaded)
+		return;
+
+	if (libinput->plugin_system.autoload) {
+		libinput_plugin_system_append_default_paths(libinput);
+		libinput_plugin_system_load_plugins(libinput,
+						    LIBINPUT_PLUGIN_SYSTEM_FLAG_NONE);
+	} else {
+		libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(libinput,
+							     &libinput->plugin_system);
+	}
 }
 
 LIBINPUT_EXPORT int
@@ -453,11 +484,16 @@ void
 libinput_plugin_system_init(struct libinput_plugin_system *system)
 {
 	system->loaded = false;
+#ifdef AUTOLOAD_PLUGINS
+	system->autoload = true;
+#else
+	system->autoload = false;
+#endif
 	list_init(&system->plugins);
 	list_init(&system->removed_plugins);
 }
 
-void
+static void
 libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(struct libinput *libinput,
 					     struct libinput_plugin_system *system)
 {
diff --git a/src/path-seat.c b/src/path-seat.c
index bd304f6c..d76bea0a 100644
--- a/src/path-seat.c
+++ b/src/path-seat.c
@@ -383,8 +383,7 @@ libinput_path_add_device(struct libinput *libinput, const char *path)
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
-	libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(libinput,
-						     &libinput->plugin_system);
+	libinput_plugin_system_autoload(libinput);
 
 	/* We cannot do this during path_create_context because the log
 	 * handler isn't set up there but we really want to log to the right
diff --git a/src/udev-seat.c b/src/udev-seat.c
index b0f1a218..dfaeb6e5 100644
--- a/src/udev-seat.c
+++ b/src/udev-seat.c
@@ -416,8 +416,7 @@ libinput_udev_assign_seat(struct libinput *libinput, const char *seat_id)
 	if (input->seat_id != NULL)
 		return -1;
 
-	libinput_plugin_system_load_internal_plugins(libinput,
-						     &libinput->plugin_system);
+	libinput_plugin_system_autoload(libinput);
 
 	/* We cannot do this during udev_create_context because the log
 	 * handler isn't set up there but we really want to log to the right