diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fc6cd83eacf44..35440fc84c375 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ target
 .htpasswd
 .eslintcache
 plugins
+data
 disabledPlugins
 webpackstats.json
 config/kibana.dev.yml
diff --git a/plugins/.data/.empty b/data/.empty
similarity index 100%
rename from plugins/.data/.empty
rename to data/.empty
diff --git a/src/server/path/index.js b/src/server/path/index.js
index c13d7029253c1..76f01e1535b0b 100644
--- a/src/server/path/index.js
+++ b/src/server/path/index.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ const CONFIG_PATHS = [
 
 const DATA_PATHS = [
   process.env.DATA_PATH,
-  fromRoot('plugins/.data'),
+  fromRoot('data'),
   '/var/lib/kibana'
 ].filter(Boolean);
 
diff --git a/tasks/build/data.js b/tasks/build/data.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b2a4d1a6fb3c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/build/data.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+export default function (grunt) {
+  grunt.registerTask('_build:data', function () {
+    grunt.file.mkdir('build/kibana/data');
+  });
+};
diff --git a/tasks/build/index.js b/tasks/build/index.js
index da6a846b782a8..4de6a1407a364 100644
--- a/tasks/build/index.js
+++ b/tasks/build/index.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
       'babel:build',
       '_build:babelOptions',
       '_build:plugins',
+      '_build:data',
       '_build:packageJson',
       '_build:readme',
       '_build:babelCache',
diff --git a/tasks/build/installed_plugins.js b/tasks/build/installed_plugins.js
index 08199e4ce5f37..bc486acdf00f6 100644
--- a/tasks/build/installed_plugins.js
+++ b/tasks/build/installed_plugins.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 module.exports = function (grunt) {
   grunt.registerTask('_build:plugins', function () {
     grunt.file.mkdir('build/kibana/plugins');
-    grunt.file.mkdir('build/kibana/plugins/.data');
   });
 };
diff --git a/tasks/build/os_packages.js b/tasks/build/os_packages.js
index f94723c0ff0d0..5c8b0e8919f2d 100644
--- a/tasks/build/os_packages.js
+++ b/tasks/build/os_packages.js
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export default (grunt) => {
         //config folder is moved to path.conf, exclude {path.home}/config
         //uses relative path to --prefix, strip the leading /
         '--exclude', `${packages.path.home.slice(1)}/config`,
-        '--exclude', `${packages.path.home.slice(1)}/plugins/.data`
+        '--exclude', `${packages.path.home.slice(1)}/data`
       ];
       const debOptions = [
         '-t', 'deb',
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ export default (grunt) => {
       const args = [
         `${buildDir}/=${packages.path.home}/`,
         `${buildDir}/config/=${packages.path.conf}/`,
-        `${buildDir}/plugins/.data/=${packages.path.data}/`,
+        `${buildDir}/data/=${packages.path.data}/`,
         `${servicesByName.sysv.outputDir}/etc/=/etc/`,
         `${servicesByName.systemd.outputDir}/lib/=/lib/`
       ];