diff --git a/pkg/commands/run.go b/pkg/commands/run.go
index 92f0b175..3cd4381c 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/run.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/run.go
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ func (e *Executor) getConfigForCommandLine() (*config.Config, error) {
 	// Use another config variable here, not e.cfg, to not
 	// affect main parsing by this parsing of only config option.
 	initFlagSet(fs, &cfg, e.DBManager, false)
+	initVersionFlagSet(fs, &cfg)
 
 	// Parse max options, even force version option: don't want
 	// to get access to Executor here: it's error-prone to use
diff --git a/pkg/commands/version.go b/pkg/commands/version.go
index fdb5aa88..3918d6b7 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/version.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/version.go
@@ -1,17 +1,59 @@
 package commands
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+
+	"github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/pkg/config"
 )
 
+type jsonVersion struct {
+	Version string `json:"version"`
+	Commit  string `json:"commit"`
+	Date    string `json:"date"`
+}
+
+func (e *Executor) initVersionConfiguration(cmd *cobra.Command) {
+	fs := cmd.Flags()
+	fs.SortFlags = false // sort them as they are defined here
+	initVersionFlagSet(fs, e.cfg)
+}
+
+func initVersionFlagSet(fs *pflag.FlagSet, cfg *config.Config) {
+	// Version config
+	vc := &cfg.Version
+	fs.StringVar(&vc.Format, "format", "", wh("The version's format can be: 'short', 'json'"))
+}
+
 func (e *Executor) initVersion() {
 	versionCmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "version",
 		Short: "Version",
-		Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
-			cmd.Printf("golangci-lint has version %s built from %s on %s\n", e.version, e.commit, e.date)
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
+			switch strings.ToLower(e.cfg.Version.Format) {
+			case "short":
+				cmd.Println(e.version)
+			case "json":
+				ver := jsonVersion{
+					Version: e.version,
+					Commit:  e.commit,
+					Date:    e.date,
+				}
+				data, err := json.Marshal(&ver)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				cmd.Println(string(data))
+			default:
+				cmd.Printf("golangci-lint has version %s built from %s on %s\n", e.version, e.commit, e.date)
+			}
+			return nil
 		},
 	}
 
 	e.rootCmd.AddCommand(versionCmd)
+	e.initVersionConfiguration(versionCmd)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 22004bc1..bf7641f2 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -521,6 +521,10 @@ type Severity struct {
 	Rules         []SeverityRule `mapstructure:"rules"`
 }
 
+type Version struct {
+	Format string `mapstructure:"format"`
+}
+
 type Config struct {
 	Run Run
 
@@ -539,6 +543,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Linters         Linters
 	Issues          Issues
 	Severity        Severity
+	Version         Version
 
 	InternalTest bool // Option is used only for testing golangci-lint code, don't use it
 }