diff --git a/pkg/api/frontendsettings.go b/pkg/api/frontendsettings.go
index 649dbd018ee..64998e517d5 100644
--- a/pkg/api/frontendsettings.go
+++ b/pkg/api/frontendsettings.go
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) getFrontendSettingsMap(c *models.ReqContext) (map[string]i
 		"http2Enabled":            hs.Cfg.Protocol == setting.HTTP2Scheme,
 		"sentry":                  hs.Cfg.Sentry,
 		"pluginCatalogURL":        hs.Cfg.PluginCatalogURL,
-		"pluginAdminEnabled":      c.HasUserRole(models.ROLE_ADMIN) && hs.Cfg.PluginAdminEnabled && hasPluginManagerApp,
+		"pluginAdminEnabled":      c.IsGrafanaAdmin && hs.Cfg.PluginAdminEnabled && hasPluginManagerApp,
 		"expressionsEnabled":      hs.Cfg.ExpressionsEnabled,
 		"awsAllowedAuthProviders": hs.Cfg.AWSAllowedAuthProviders,
 		"awsAssumeRoleEnabled":    hs.Cfg.AWSAssumeRoleEnabled,