diff --git a/dvc/command/plots.py b/dvc/command/plots.py
index 47fba416fb..f61fe1db59 100644
--- a/dvc/command/plots.py
+++ b/dvc/command/plots.py
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ def _props(self):
     def run(self):
         from pathlib import Path
 
+        from dvc.config import Config, to_bool
+
         if self.args.show_vega:
             if not self.args.targets:
                 logger.error("please specify a target for `--show-vega`")
@@ -94,8 +96,12 @@ def run(self):
             )
 
             ui.write(index_path.as_uri())
-
-            if self.args.open:
+            auto_open = to_bool(
+                Config(validate=False)
+                .get("plots", {})
+                .get("auto_open", "false")
+            )
+            if self.args.open or auto_open:
                 return ui.open_browser(index_path)
 
             return 0
diff --git a/dvc/config_schema.py b/dvc/config_schema.py
index 24bb165ee3..723fec3dae 100644
--- a/dvc/config_schema.py
+++ b/dvc/config_schema.py
@@ -256,7 +256,10 @@ class RelPath(str):
         # enabled by default. It's of no use, kept for backward compatibility.
         Optional("parametrization", default=True): Bool,
     },
-    "plots": {"html_template": str},
+    "plots": {
+        "html_template": str,
+        Optional("auto_open", default=False): Bool,
+    },
     "exp": {
         "code": str,
         "data": str,
diff --git a/tests/unit/command/test_plots.py b/tests/unit/command/test_plots.py
index 8950f36f80..c581af57f1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/command/test_plots.py
+++ b/tests/unit/command/test_plots.py
@@ -138,11 +138,19 @@ def test_plots_diff_vega(dvc, mocker, capsys, plots_data):
     render_mock.assert_not_called()
 
 
-def test_plots_diff_open(tmp_dir, dvc, mocker, capsys, plots_data):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("auto_open", [True, False])
+def test_plots_diff_open(tmp_dir, dvc, mocker, capsys, plots_data, auto_open):
     mocked_open = mocker.patch("webbrowser.open", return_value=True)
-    cli_args = parse_args(
-        ["plots", "diff", "--targets", "plots.csv", "--open"]
-    )
+
+    args = ["plots", "diff", "--targets", "plots.csv"]
+
+    if auto_open:
+        with dvc.config.edit() as conf:
+            conf["plots"]["auto_open"] = True
+    else:
+        args.append("--open")
+
+    cli_args = parse_args(args)
     cmd = cli_args.func(cli_args)
     mocker.patch("dvc.repo.plots.diff.diff", return_value=plots_data)