diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/elasticsearch_plugin-showSTDERRonFailure.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/elasticsearch_plugin-showSTDERRonFailure.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d6696ca79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/elasticsearch_plugin-showSTDERRonFailure.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- elasticsearch_plugin - Improve error messages and show stderr of elasticsearch commands
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/database/misc/elasticsearch_plugin.py b/lib/ansible/modules/database/misc/elasticsearch_plugin.py
index 614caa7fca..8652c1a00e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/database/misc/elasticsearch_plugin.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/database/misc/elasticsearch_plugin.py
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ def install_plugin(module, plugin_bin, plugin_name, version, url, proxy_host, pr
 
     if rc != 0:
         reason = parse_error(out)
-        module.fail_json(msg='Is %s a valid plugin name?' % plugin_name, err=reason)
+        module.fail_json(msg="Installing plugin '%s' failed: %s" % (plugin_name, reason), err=err)
 
     return True, cmd, out, err
 
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ def remove_plugin(module, plugin_bin, plugin_name):
 
     if rc != 0:
         reason = parse_error(out)
-        module.fail_json(msg=reason)
+        module.fail_json(msg="Removing plugin '%s' failed: %s" % (plugin_name, reason), err=err)
 
     return True, cmd, out, err