diff --git a/src/rebar_hooks.erl b/src/rebar_hooks.erl
index ec6fe31e7..0949c8f2b 100644
--- a/src/rebar_hooks.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_hooks.erl
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ run_provider_hooks_(Dir, Type, Command, Providers, TypeHooks, State) ->
                     ?DEBUG(format_error({bad_provider, Type, Command, ProviderName}), []),
                     throw(?PRV_ERROR({bad_provider, Type, Command, ProviderName}));
                 {ok, State2} ->
-                    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths),
+                    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths, State),
                     State2
             end
     end.
diff --git a/src/rebar_prv_compile.erl b/src/rebar_prv_compile.erl
index edb2d82cc..a30ec6efa 100644
--- a/src/rebar_prv_compile.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_prv_compile.erl
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ do(State) ->
     IsDepsOnly = is_deps_only(State),
     DepsPaths = rebar_state:code_paths(State, all_deps),
     PluginDepsPaths = rebar_state:code_paths(State, all_plugin_deps),
-    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths),
+    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths, State),
     code:add_pathsa(DepsPaths),
 
     Providers = rebar_state:providers(State),
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ compile(State, Providers, AppInfo) ->
     code:add_pathsa(PluginDepsPaths),
     AppFileCompileResult = rebar_otp_app:compile(State, AppInfo4),
     %% Clean up after ourselves, leave things as they were.
-    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths),
+    rebar_utils:remove_from_code_path(PluginDepsPaths, State),
 
     case AppFileCompileResult of
         {ok, AppInfo5} ->
diff --git a/src/rebar_utils.erl b/src/rebar_utils.erl
index 995d2124b..6635a3c5d 100644
--- a/src/rebar_utils.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_utils.erl
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
          update_code/1,
          update_code/2,
          remove_from_code_path/1,
+         remove_from_code_path/2,
          cleanup_code_path/1,
          args_to_tasks/1,
          expand_env_variable/3,
@@ -785,6 +786,21 @@ update_code(Paths, Opts) ->
                           end
                   end, Paths).
 
+-spec remove_from_code_path(Paths, State) -> Res when
+    Paths :: list(string()),
+    State :: rebar_state:t(),
+    Res :: ok.
+remove_from_code_path(Paths, State) ->
+    case unload_plugins(State) of
+        true ->
+            remove_from_code_path(Paths);
+        false ->
+            ok
+    end.
+
+-spec remove_from_code_path(Paths) -> Res when
+    Paths :: list(string()),
+    Res :: ok.
 remove_from_code_path(Paths) ->
     lists:foreach(fun(Path) ->
                           Name = filename:basename(Path, "/ebin"),
@@ -807,6 +823,12 @@ remove_from_code_path(Paths) ->
                           code:del_path(Path)
                   end, lists:usort(Paths)).
 
+-spec unload_plugins(State) -> Res when
+      State :: rebar_state:t(),
+      Res :: boolean().
+unload_plugins(State) ->
+    rebar_state:get(State, unload_plugins, true).
+
 %% @doc Revert to only having the beams necessary for running rebar3 and
 %% plugins in the path
 -spec cleanup_code_path([string()]) -> true | {error, term()}.