diff --git a/subprojects/gstreamer/tests/check/tools/gstinspect.c b/subprojects/gstreamer/tests/check/tools/gstinspect.c
index 72e23a4225..1ea6ee2bee 100644
--- a/subprojects/gstreamer/tests/check/tools/gstinspect.c
+++ b/subprojects/gstreamer/tests/check/tools/gstinspect.c
@@ -30,10 +30,27 @@ static int gst_inspect_main (int argc, char **argv);
 #include "../../tools/gst-inspect.c"
 #undef main
 
+// A plugin whose version does not match the gstreamer major/minor
+// see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer/-/merge_requests/6191
+#define TEST_PLUGIN_VERSION "0.1.0"
+#define TEST_ELEMENT_NAME "local_test_bin"
+static gboolean
+test_plugin_init (G_GNUC_UNUSED GstPlugin * plugin)
+{
+  gst_element_register (plugin, TEST_ELEMENT_NAME, GST_RANK_NONE, GST_TYPE_BIN);
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
+GST_PLUGIN_DEFINE (GST_VERSION_MAJOR, GST_VERSION_MINOR,
+    test_plugin, "Test Plugin", test_plugin_init, TEST_PLUGIN_VERSION,
+    "LGPL", "gsttestplugin", "testing");
+
 GST_START_TEST (test_exists)
 {
 #define ARGV_LEN (G_N_ELEMENTS (argv) - 1)
 
+  gst_plugin_test_plugin_register ();
+
   {
     const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists", "foo", NULL };
 
@@ -44,6 +61,16 @@ GST_START_TEST (test_exists)
 
     fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 0);
   }
+  {
+    // --exists should work even if the plugin's version does not equal
+    // the gstreamer version (i.e., the --atleast-version check is not
+    // implicitly enforced when not present).
+    const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
+      TEST_ELEMENT_NAME, NULL
+    };
+
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 0);
+  }
   {
     const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
       "--atleast-version=" VERSION, "bin", NULL
@@ -77,28 +104,41 @@ GST_START_TEST (test_exists)
       "--atleast-version=2.0", "bin", NULL
     };
 
-    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 1);
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 2);
   }
   {
     const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
       "--atleast-version=2.0.0", "bin", NULL
     };
 
-    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 1);
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 2);
   }
   {
     const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
       "--atleast-version=1.44", "bin", NULL
     };
 
-    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 1);
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 2);
   }
   {
     const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
       "--atleast-version=1.60.4", "bin", NULL
     };
 
-    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 1);
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 2);
+  }
+  {
+    // The 'atleast-version' supplied here will not match the test plugin's
+    // version, above, so the test case should return "2" because the test
+    // plugin's 0.1.0 will not meet the minimum version specified by the arg.
+    gchar *atleast = g_strdup_printf ("--atleast-version=%d.%d",
+        GST_VERSION_MAJOR, GST_VERSION_MINOR);
+    const gchar *argv[] = { "gst-inspect-1.0", "--exists",
+      atleast, TEST_ELEMENT_NAME, NULL
+    };
+
+    fail_unless_equals_int (gst_inspect_main (ARGV_LEN, (gchar **) argv), 2);
+    g_free (atleast);
   }
   {
     /* check for plugin should fail like this */
diff --git a/subprojects/gstreamer/tools/gst-inspect.c b/subprojects/gstreamer/tools/gst-inspect.c
index 7edd8634a5..18b260b129 100644
--- a/subprojects/gstreamer/tools/gst-inspect.c
+++ b/subprojects/gstreamer/tools/gst-inspect.c
@@ -2171,6 +2171,7 @@ real_main (int argc, char *argv[])
   gboolean print_aii = FALSE;
   gboolean uri_handlers = FALSE;
   gboolean check_exists = FALSE;
+  gboolean check_version = FALSE;
   gboolean color_always = FALSE;
   gchar *min_version = NULL;
   guint minver_maj = GST_VERSION_MAJOR;
@@ -2285,6 +2286,7 @@ real_main (int argc, char *argv[])
     }
     g_free (min_version);
     check_exists = TRUE;
+    check_version = TRUE;
   }
 
   if (check_exists) {
@@ -2296,9 +2298,13 @@ real_main (int argc, char *argv[])
         GstPluginFeature *feature;
 
         feature = gst_registry_lookup_feature (gst_registry_get (), argv[1]);
-        if (feature != NULL && gst_plugin_feature_check_version (feature,
-                minver_maj, minver_min, minver_micro)) {
-          exit_code = 0;
+        if (feature != NULL) {
+          if (check_version && !gst_plugin_feature_check_version (feature,
+                  minver_maj, minver_min, minver_micro)) {
+            exit_code = 2;
+          } else {
+            exit_code = 0;
+          }
         } else {
           exit_code = 1;
         }