diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/chrome_forward_testing.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/chrome_forward_testing.yml
index eb80625a73d77..965f910e8e07e 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/chrome_forward_testing.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/chrome_forward_testing.yml
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ steps:
   - wait
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     timeout_in_minutes: 60
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/es_serverless/verify_es_serverless_image.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/es_serverless/verify_es_serverless_image.yml
index fa8162ca93c0e..3058293bae793 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/es_serverless/verify_es_serverless_image.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/es_serverless/verify_es_serverless_image.yml
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ steps:
           provider: gcp
           machineType: n2-standard-2
 
-      - label: "Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins"
+      - label: "Build Kibana Distribution"
         command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
         agents:
           image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
           imageProject: elastic-images-prod
           provider: gcp
-          machineType: n2-standard-16
+          machineType: n2-standard-8
         key: build
         if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
         depends_on: pre-build
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/es_snapshots/verify.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/es_snapshots/verify.yml
index d91af527c8266..e8c9899e9aed7 100755
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/es_snapshots/verify.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/es_snapshots/verify.yml
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ steps:
   - wait
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/fips.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/fips.yml
index 09ae10496456f..f4a5b3623bbcc 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/fips.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/fips.yml
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ steps:
   - wait
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky_tests/pipeline.ts b/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky_tests/pipeline.ts
index ec1b4994beae3..0d6c3b5c40f7d 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky_tests/pipeline.ts
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky_tests/pipeline.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ const pipeline = {
 
 steps.push({
   command: '.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh',
-  label: 'Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins',
+  label: 'Build Kibana Distribution',
   agents: expandAgentQueue('c2-8'),
   key: 'build',
   if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''",
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
index 65c7f0095f063..e5d28465b2dc3 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ steps:
   - wait
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/on_merge_build_and_metrics.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     timeout_in_minutes: 60
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge_unsupported_ftrs.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge_unsupported_ftrs.yml
index cf1a523be5a32..a7800fcc92dce 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge_unsupported_ftrs.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge_unsupported_ftrs.yml
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@ steps:
           limit: 1
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/daily.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/daily.yml
index bbbdde955df76..1eeb044304d22 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/daily.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/daily.yml
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ steps:
 
   - wait
 
-  - label: '🧑‍🏭 Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins'
+  - label: '🧑‍🏭 Build Kibana Distribution'
     command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: c2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
 
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/data_set_extraction_daily.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/data_set_extraction_daily.yml
index bb2c33f7a2d33..dcb7355318960 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/data_set_extraction_daily.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/performance/data_set_extraction_daily.yml
@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ steps:
 
   - wait
 
-  - label: ':building_construction: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins'
+  - label: ':building_construction: Build Kibana Distribution '
     command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: c2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
 
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
index e7b593f464b54..f56159882b2af 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ steps:
   - wait
 
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
-    label: Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins
+    label: Build Kibana Distribution
     agents:
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/scalability/api_capacity_testing_daily.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/scalability/api_capacity_testing_daily.yml
index 785726bf95174..909329234c328 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/scalability/api_capacity_testing_daily.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/scalability/api_capacity_testing_daily.yml
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ steps:
 
   - wait
 
-  - label: 'Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins'
+  - label: 'Build Kibana Distribution'
     command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
     agents:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: n2-standard-16
+      machineType: n2-standard-8
       preemptible: true
     key: build
     if: "build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == null || build.env('KIBANA_BUILD_ID') == ''"
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/build_kibana_plugins.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/build_kibana_plugins.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 4e566008b3351..0000000000000
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/build_kibana_plugins.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-echo "--- Build Platform Plugins"
-THREADS=$(grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo)
-node scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins --examples --test-plugins --workers "$THREADS" --no-inspect-workers --no-progress
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/download_build_artifacts.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/download_build_artifacts.sh
index 1b52e82c2d66b..497efa181018e 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/download_build_artifacts.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/download_build_artifacts.sh
@@ -6,12 +6,11 @@ source "$(dirname "$0")/common/util.sh"
 
 if [[ "${KIBANA_BUILD_ID:-}" != "false" ]]; then
   if [[ ! -d "$KIBANA_BUILD_LOCATION/bin" ]]; then
-    echo '--- Downloading Distribution and Plugin artifacts'
+    echo '--- Downloading Distribution'
 
     cd "$WORKSPACE"
 
     download_artifact kibana-default.tar.gz . --build "${KIBANA_BUILD_ID:-$BUILDKITE_BUILD_ID}"
-    download_artifact kibana-default-plugins.tar.gz . --build "${KIBANA_BUILD_ID:-$BUILDKITE_BUILD_ID}"
 
     mkdir -p "$KIBANA_BUILD_LOCATION"
     tar -xzf kibana-default.tar.gz -C "$KIBANA_BUILD_LOCATION" --strip=1
@@ -24,7 +23,5 @@ if [[ "${KIBANA_BUILD_ID:-}" != "false" ]]; then
     fi
 
     cd "$KIBANA_DIR"
-
-    tar -xzf ../kibana-default-plugins.tar.gz
   fi
 fi
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana_plugins.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana_plugins.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 288fd262cafa9..0000000000000
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana_plugins.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-echo "--- Archive built plugins"
-shopt -s globstar
-tar -zcf \
-  target/kibana-default-plugins.tar.gz \
-  x-pack/plugins/**/target/public \
-  x-pack/test/**/target/public \
-  examples/**/target/public \
-  x-pack/examples/**/target/public \
-  test/**/target/public
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
index bf4a9ff243d02..4bad332dd073f 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,4 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 .buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
 .buildkite/scripts/build_kibana.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/build_kibana_plugins.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana_plugins.sh
 .buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana.sh
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_burn.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_burn.sh
index 6a97ba4e82b33..44d87ba4a6635 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_burn.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_burn.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 source .buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/common.sh
 
-.buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/copy_es_snapshot_cache.sh
-node scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js
-
+export KIBANA_INSTALL_DIR=${KIBANA_BUILD_LOCATION}
 export JOB=kibana-defend-workflows-cypress
 
 buildkite-agent meta-data set "${BUILDKITE_JOB_ID}_is_test_execution_step" 'false'
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_serverless_burn.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_serverless_burn.sh
index 4bebee15953e6..a092ffbd4186b 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_serverless_burn.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/defend_workflows_serverless_burn.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 source .buildkite/scripts/steps/functional/common.sh
 
-.buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/copy_es_snapshot_cache.sh
-node scripts/build_kibana_platform_plugins.js
-
+export KIBANA_INSTALL_DIR=${KIBANA_BUILD_LOCATION}
 export JOB=kibana-defend-workflows-serverless-cypress
 
 buildkite-agent meta-data set "${BUILDKITE_JOB_ID}_is_test_execution_step" 'false'
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/on_merge_build_and_metrics.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/on_merge_build_and_metrics.sh
index fb05bb99b0c54..1f1e492f87bec 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/on_merge_build_and_metrics.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/on_merge_build_and_metrics.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,5 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 .buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
 .buildkite/scripts/build_kibana.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/build_kibana_plugins.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana_plugins.sh
 .buildkite/scripts/post_build_kibana.sh
 .buildkite/scripts/saved_object_field_metrics.sh
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/synthetics/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/synthetics/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
index 7a1ee5c582d7d..ca024e9b42286 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/synthetics/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/synthetics/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ console.log(JSON.stringify(pipeline, null, 2));
 function getBuildJob() {
   return {
     command: '.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh',
-    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins',
-    agents: { queue: 'c2-8' },
+    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution',
+    agents: { queue: 'n2-8' },
     key: BUILD_UUID,
     if: `build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == null || build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == ''`,
   };
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/uptime/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/uptime/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
index 7a1ee5c582d7d..ca024e9b42286 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/uptime/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/uptime/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ console.log(JSON.stringify(pipeline, null, 2));
 function getBuildJob() {
   return {
     command: '.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh',
-    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins',
-    agents: { queue: 'c2-8' },
+    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution',
+    agents: { queue: 'n2-8' },
     key: BUILD_UUID,
     if: `build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == null || build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == ''`,
   };
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/ux/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/ux/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
index 6a01e8c52d002..b9a1782820aeb 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/ux/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/observability_solution/ux/.buildkite/pipelines/flaky.js
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ console.log(JSON.stringify(pipeline, null, 2));
 function getBuildJob() {
   return {
     command: '.buildkite/scripts/steps/build_kibana.sh',
-    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution and Plugins',
-    agents: { queue: 'c2-8' },
+    label: 'Build Kibana Distribution',
+    agents: { queue: 'n2-8' },
     key: BUILD_UUID,
     if: `build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == null || build.env('${KIBANA_BUILD_ID}') == ''`,
   };