diff --git a/etc/telegraf.conf b/etc/telegraf.conf
index 8ebf0a7a7a7ee..a7b903388f69b 100644
--- a/etc/telegraf.conf
+++ b/etc/telegraf.conf
@@ -777,6 +777,8 @@
 # # Read stats from one or more Elasticsearch servers or clusters
 # [[inputs.elasticsearch]]
 #   ## specify a list of one or more Elasticsearch servers
+#   # you can add username and password to your url to use basic authentication:
+#   # servers = ["http://user:pass@localhost:9200"]
 #   servers = ["http://localhost:9200"]
 #
 #   ## Timeout for HTTP requests to the elastic search server(s)
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go b/plugins/inputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
index 896e03f2e2be0..cce3d94ff49ad 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ type indexHealth struct {
 
 const sampleConfig = `
   ## specify a list of one or more Elasticsearch servers
+  # you can add username and password to your url to use basic authentication:
+  # servers = ["http://user:pass@localhost:9200"]
   servers = ["http://localhost:9200"]
 
   ## Timeout for HTTP requests to the elastic search server(s)