diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index cc0d31f0f10..cbec5f316db 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 - Fix make sure the collected logs or metrics include streams information. {pull}18261[18261]
 - Fix version to 7.8 {pull}18286[18286]
 - Fix an issue where the checkin_frequency, jitter, and backoff options where not configurable. {pull}17843[17843]
+- Stop monitoring on config change {pull}18284[18284]
 
 ==== New features
 
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring.go
index 5487dcddbf6..daa3b6d0d08 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func (o *Operator) handleStartSidecar(s configrequest.Step) (result error) {
 
 	o.isMonitoring = true
 
-	for _, step := range o.getMonitoringSteps(s) {
+	for _, step := range o.getMonitoringSteps(s, o.monitor.WatchLogs(), o.monitor.WatchMetrics()) {
 		p, cfg, err := getProgramFromStepWithTags(step, o.config.DownloadConfig, monitoringTags())
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.New(err,
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func (o *Operator) handleStartSidecar(s configrequest.Step) (result error) {
 }
 
 func (o *Operator) handleStopSidecar(s configrequest.Step) (result error) {
-	for _, step := range o.getMonitoringSteps(s) {
+	for _, step := range o.getMonitoringSteps(s, true, true) {
 		p, _, err := getProgramFromStepWithTags(step, o.config.DownloadConfig, monitoringTags())
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.New(err,
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ func (o *Operator) handleStopSidecar(s configrequest.Step) (result error) {
 				"operator.handleStopSidecar failed to create program")
 		}
 
+		o.logger.Debugf("stopping program %v", p)
 		if err := o.stop(p); err != nil {
 			result = multierror.Append(err, err)
 		}
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ func monitoringTags() map[app.Tag]string {
 	}
 }
 
-func (o *Operator) getMonitoringSteps(step configrequest.Step) []configrequest.Step {
+func (o *Operator) getMonitoringSteps(step configrequest.Step, watchLogs, watchMetrics bool) []configrequest.Step {
 	// get output
 	config, err := getConfigFromStep(step)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -112,13 +113,13 @@ func (o *Operator) getMonitoringSteps(step configrequest.Step) []configrequest.S
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	return o.generateMonitoringSteps(step.Version, output)
+	return o.generateMonitoringSteps(step.Version, output, watchLogs, watchMetrics)
 }
 
-func (o *Operator) generateMonitoringSteps(version string, output interface{}) []configrequest.Step {
+func (o *Operator) generateMonitoringSteps(version string, output interface{}, watchLogs, watchMetrics bool) []configrequest.Step {
 	var steps []configrequest.Step
 
-	if o.monitor.WatchLogs() {
+	if watchLogs {
 		fbConfig, any := o.getMonitoringFilebeatConfig(output)
 		stepID := configrequest.StepRun
 		if !any {
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ func (o *Operator) generateMonitoringSteps(version string, output interface{}) [
 		steps = append(steps, filebeatStep)
 	}
 
-	if o.monitor.WatchMetrics() {
+	if watchMetrics {
 		mbConfig, any := o.getMonitoringMetricbeatConfig(output)
 		stepID := configrequest.StepRun
 		if !any {
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring_test.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring_test.go
index 826e5bbd03d..e313a1a07b9 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring_test.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/monitoring_test.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ func TestGenerateSteps(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(tc.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			m := &testMonitor{monitorLogs: tc.Config.MonitorLogs, monitorMetrics: tc.Config.MonitorMetrics}
 			operator, _ := getMonitorableTestOperator(t, "tests/scripts", m)
-			steps := operator.generateMonitoringSteps("8.0", sampleOutput)
+			steps := operator.generateMonitoringSteps("8.0", sampleOutput, tc.Config.MonitorLogs, tc.Config.MonitorMetrics)
 			if actualSteps := len(steps); actualSteps != tc.ExpectedSteps {
 				t.Fatalf("invalid number of steps, expected %v, got %v", tc.ExpectedSteps, actualSteps)
 			}
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
index 89734e38fe7..e8ce81f2c40 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator.go
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ func (o *Operator) getApp(p Descriptor) (Application, error) {
 
 	id := p.ID()
 
+	o.logger.Debugf("operator is looking for %s in app collection: %v", p.ID(), o.apps)
 	if a, ok := o.apps[id]; ok {
 		return a, nil
 	}
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator_handlers.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator_handlers.go
index 3e7d796f7a3..cab5d10bab1 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator_handlers.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/agent/operation/operator_handlers.go
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ func (o *Operator) handleRun(step configrequest.Step) error {
 }
 
 func (o *Operator) handleRemove(step configrequest.Step) error {
+	o.logger.Debugf("stopping process %s: %s", step.Process, step.ID)
 	if step.Process == monitoringName {
 		return o.handleStopSidecar(step)
 	}
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/configure.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/configure.go
index 84869f027b7..0613d53ba9b 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/configure.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/configure.go
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ func (a *Application) Configure(ctx context.Context, config map[string]interface
 			return errors.New(ErrClientNotConfigurable, errors.TypeApplication)
 		}
 
+		a.logger.Debugf("configuring application %s: %s", a.Name(), string(rawYaml))
 		err = configClient.Config(ctx, string(rawYaml))
 
 		if netErr, ok := err.(net.Error); ok && (netErr.Timeout() || netErr.Temporary()) {