diff --git a/files/elasticsearch_exporter.in b/files/elasticsearch_exporter.in
index 4af1998..cd07370 100644
--- a/files/elasticsearch_exporter.in
+++ b/files/elasticsearch_exporter.in
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 #                                    or above. [debug,info,warn,error]
 #                             (default: "info")
 #
+# elasticsearch_exporter_log_file (str): log messages to this file
+#                             (default: "/var/log/elasticsearch_exporter.log")
+#
 
 . /etc/rc.subr
 
@@ -32,11 +35,12 @@ load_rc_config $name
 : ${elasticsearch_exporter_listen=":9114"}
 : ${elasticsearch_exporter_endpoint="http://localhost:9200"}
 : ${elasticsearch_exporter_log_level="info"}
+: ${elasticsearch_exporter_log_file="/var/log/elasticsearch_exporter.log"}
 : ${elasticsearch_exporter_pidfile:="/var/run/elasticsearch_exporter.pid"}
 : ${elasticsearch_exporter_user:="prometheus"}
 
 command="/usr/local/bin/elasticsearch_exporter"
-command_args="--es.uri=\${elasticsearch_exporter_endpoint} --web.listen-address=\${elasticsearch_exporter_listen} --log.level=\${elasticsearch_exporter_log_level}"
+command_args="--es.uri=\${elasticsearch_exporter_endpoint} --web.listen-address=\${elasticsearch_exporter_listen} --log.level=\${elasticsearch_exporter_log_level}  2>&1 > ${elasticsearch_exporter_log_file}"
 start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -u ${elasticsearch_exporter_user} ${command} ${command_args}"
 
 run_rc_command "$1"