diff --git a/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.c b/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.c
index 23d31ad4f0a..5c0a2cf8647 100644
--- a/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.c
+++ b/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.c
@@ -1226,6 +1226,10 @@ static int cb_stackdriver_init(struct flb_output_instance *ins,
     /* Set context */
     flb_output_set_context(ins, ctx);
 
+    if (ctx->test_log_entry_format) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
     /* Network mode IPv6 */
     if (ins->host.ipv6 == FLB_TRUE) {
         io_flags |= FLB_IO_IPV6;
@@ -1789,7 +1793,7 @@ static flb_sds_t stackdriver_format(struct flb_stackdriver *ctx,
      *  "entries": []
      */
     msgpack_pack_map(&mp_pck, 3);
-    
+
     /* Set partialSuccess to true */
     msgpack_pack_str(&mp_pck, 14);
     msgpack_pack_str_body(&mp_pck, "partialSuccess", 14);
@@ -2743,35 +2747,41 @@ static void cb_stackdriver_flush(struct flb_event_chunk *event_chunk,
     uint64_t ts = cfl_time_now();
 #endif
 
-    /* Get upstream connection */
-    u_conn = flb_upstream_conn_get(ctx->u);
-    if (!u_conn) {
+    /* Reformat msgpack to stackdriver JSON payload */
+    payload_buf = stackdriver_format(ctx,
+                                     event_chunk->total_events,
+                                     event_chunk->tag, flb_sds_len(event_chunk->tag),
+                                     event_chunk->data, event_chunk->size);
+    if (!payload_buf) {
 #ifdef FLB_HAVE_METRICS
         cmt_counter_inc(ctx->cmt_failed_requests,
                         ts, 1, (char *[]) {name});
 
         /* OLD api */
         flb_metrics_sum(FLB_STACKDRIVER_FAILED_REQUESTS, 1, ctx->ins->metrics);
-
-        update_retry_metric(ctx, event_chunk, ts, STACKDRIVER_NET_ERROR);
 #endif
         FLB_OUTPUT_RETURN(FLB_RETRY);
     }
 
-    /* Reformat msgpack to stackdriver JSON payload */
-    payload_buf = stackdriver_format(ctx,
-                                     event_chunk->total_events,
-                                     event_chunk->tag, flb_sds_len(event_chunk->tag),
-                                     event_chunk->data, event_chunk->size);
-    if (!payload_buf) {
+    if (ctx->test_log_entry_format) {
+        printf("%s", payload_buf);
+        flb_sds_destroy(payload_buf);
+        FLB_OUTPUT_RETURN(FLB_OK);
+    }
+
+    /* Get upstream connection */
+    u_conn = flb_upstream_conn_get(ctx->u);
+    if (!u_conn) {
 #ifdef FLB_HAVE_METRICS
         cmt_counter_inc(ctx->cmt_failed_requests,
                         ts, 1, (char *[]) {name});
 
         /* OLD api */
         flb_metrics_sum(FLB_STACKDRIVER_FAILED_REQUESTS, 1, ctx->ins->metrics);
+
+        update_retry_metric(ctx, event_chunk, ts, STACKDRIVER_NET_ERROR);
 #endif
-        flb_upstream_conn_release(u_conn);
+        flb_sds_destroy(payload_buf);
         FLB_OUTPUT_RETURN(FLB_RETRY);
     }
 
@@ -3079,6 +3089,11 @@ static struct flb_config_map config_map[] = {
       0, FLB_TRUE, offsetof(struct flb_stackdriver, resource_labels),
       "Set the resource labels"
     },
+    {
+      FLB_CONFIG_MAP_BOOL, "test_log_entry_format", "false",
+      0, FLB_TRUE, offsetof(struct flb_stackdriver, test_log_entry_format),
+      "Test log entry format"
+    },
     /* EOF */
     {0}
 };
diff --git a/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.h b/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.h
index 41ec385b507..4e2f33dfc82 100644
--- a/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.h
+++ b/plugins/out_stackdriver/stackdriver.h
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ struct flb_stackdriver {
     flb_sds_t http_request_key;
     int http_request_key_size;
     bool autoformat_stackdriver_trace;
+    bool test_log_entry_format;
 
     flb_sds_t stackdriver_agent;