diff --git a/picard/plugin.py b/picard/plugin.py
index 91244f4fb..252d00260 100644
--- a/picard/plugin.py
+++ b/picard/plugin.py
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ class PluginManager(QtCore.QObject):
     def __init__(self):
         super().__init__()
         self.plugins = []
-        self._api_versions = set([version_from_string(v) for v in picard.api_versions])
         self._available_plugins = None  # None=never loaded, [] = empty
 
     @property
@@ -384,7 +383,7 @@ class PluginManager(QtCore.QObject):
 
     def _compatible_api_versions(self, api_versions):
         versions = [version_from_string(v) for v in list(api_versions)]
-        return set(versions) & self._api_versions
+        return set(versions) & set(picard.api_versions_tuple)
 
     def _get_existing_paths(self, plugin_name):
         dirpath = os.path.join(USER_PLUGIN_DIR, plugin_name)
diff --git a/test/test_plugins.py b/test/test_plugins.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..83c9ad941
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_plugins.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
+# Copyright (C) 2019 Laurent Monin
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+import logging
+from test.picardtestcase import PicardTestCase
+
+import picard
+from picard import (
+    VersionError,
+    version_from_string,
+)
+from picard.plugin import PluginManager
+
+
+class TestPicardPluginsCommon(PicardTestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super().setUp()
+        logging.disable(logging.ERROR)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        pass
+
+
+class TestPicardPluginManager(TestPicardPluginsCommon):
+
+    def test_compatible_api_version(self):
+
+        pm = PluginManager()
+
+        # use first element from picard.api_versions, it should be compatible
+        api_versions = picard.api_versions[:1]
+        expected = set([version_from_string(v) for v in api_versions])
+        result = pm._compatible_api_versions(api_versions)
+        self.assertEqual(result, expected)
+
+        # pretty sure 0.0 isn't compatible
+        api_versions = ["0.0"]
+        expected = set()
+        result = pm._compatible_api_versions(api_versions)
+        self.assertEqual(result, expected)
+
+        # buggy version
+        api_versions = ["0.a"]
+        with self.assertRaises(VersionError):
+            result = pm._compatible_api_versions(api_versions)