diff --git a/cli/run/commandPlugins.ts b/cli/run/commandPlugins.ts
index 55b9aa3ce37..1a358c3d316 100644
--- a/cli/run/commandPlugins.ts
+++ b/cli/run/commandPlugins.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ function loadAndRegisterPlugin(inputOptions: InputOptions, pluginText: string) {
 		// -p "{transform(c,i){...}}"
 		plugin = new Function('return ' + pluginText);
 	} else {
-		const match = pluginText.match(/^([@.\/\\\w|^{}|-]+)(=(.*))?$/);
+		const match = pluginText.match(/^([@.\/\\\w|^{}-]+)(=(.*))?$/);
 		if (match) {
 			// -p plugin
 			// -p plugin=arg
@@ -63,10 +63,10 @@ function loadAndRegisterPlugin(inputOptions: InputOptions, pluginText: string) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	if (typeof plugin === 'object' && pluginText in plugin) {
-		// some plugins do not use `export default` for their entry point.
-		// attempt to use the plugin name as the named import name.
-		plugin = plugin[pluginText];
+	// some plugins do not use `module.exports` for their entry point,
+	// in which case we try the named default export and the plugin name
+	if (typeof plugin === 'object') {
+		plugin = plugin.default || plugin[pluginText]
 	}
 	inputOptions.plugins!.push(
 		typeof plugin === 'function' ? plugin.call(plugin, pluginArg) : plugin
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_config.js b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_config.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2a74334e40b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+module.exports = {
+	description: 'CLI --plugin with default export',
+	skipIfWindows: true,
+	command: `echo 'console.log(VALUE);' | rollup -p "./my-plugin={VALUE: 'default', ZZZ: 1}"`
+};
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_expected.js b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_expected.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b4889737d60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/_expected.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+console.log("default");
diff --git a/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/my-plugin.js b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/my-plugin.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2f6a021c39e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/samples/plugin/default-export/my-plugin.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+exports.default = function(options) {
+	if (options === void 0) options = {};
+	return {
+		transform(code) {
+			// dumb search and replace for test purposes
+			for (var key in options) {
+				const rx = new RegExp(key, 'g');
+				const value = JSON.stringify(options[key]);
+				code = code.replace(rx, value);
+			}
+			return code;
+		}
+	};
+};