diff --git a/plugins/inputs/couchdb/README.md b/plugins/inputs/couchdb/README.md
index 0af06cc542a39..3a7f127dbc3db 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/couchdb/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/couchdb/README.md
@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
 # CouchDB Input Plugin
----
 
-The CouchDB plugin gathers metrics of CouchDB using [_stats](http://docs.couchdb.org/en/1.6.1/api/server/common.html?highlight=stats#get--_stats) endpoint.
+The CouchDB plugin gathers metrics of CouchDB using [_stats] endpoint.
 
-### Configuration:
+### Configuration
 
-```
-# Sample Config:
+```toml
 [[inputs.couchdb]]
-  hosts = ["http://localhost:5984/_stats"]
+  ## Works with CouchDB stats endpoints out of the box
+  ## Multiple Hosts from which to read CouchDB stats:
+  hosts = ["http://localhost:8086/_stats"]
+
+  ## Use HTTP Basic Authentication.
+  # basic_username = "telegraf"
+  # basic_password = "p@ssw0rd"
 ```
 
 ### Measurements & Fields:
@@ -71,3 +75,5 @@ couchdb,server=http://couchdb22:5984/_node/_local/_stats couchdb_auth_cache_hits
 ```
 couchdb,server=http://couchdb16:5984/_stats couchdb_request_time_sum=96,httpd_status_codes_200_sum=37,httpd_status_codes_200_min=0,httpd_requests_mean=0.005,httpd_requests_min=0,couchdb_request_time_stddev=3.833,couchdb_request_time_min=1,httpd_request_methods_get_stddev=0.073,httpd_request_methods_get_min=0,httpd_status_codes_200_mean=0.005,httpd_status_codes_200_max=1,httpd_requests_sum=37,couchdb_request_time_current=96,httpd_request_methods_get_sum=37,httpd_request_methods_get_mean=0.005,httpd_request_methods_get_max=1,httpd_status_codes_200_stddev=0.073,couchdb_request_time_mean=2.595,couchdb_request_time_max=25,httpd_request_methods_get_current=37,httpd_status_codes_200_current=37,httpd_requests_current=37,httpd_requests_stddev=0.073,httpd_requests_max=1 1536707179000000000
 ```
+
+[_stats]: http://docs.couchdb.org/en/1.6.1/api/server/common.html?highlight=stats#get--_stats
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/couchdb/couchdb.go b/plugins/inputs/couchdb/couchdb.go
index bc9f316884e4e..1b542d042dd30 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/couchdb/couchdb.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/couchdb/couchdb.go
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@ type (
 	}
 
 	CouchDB struct {
-		Hosts []string `toml:"hosts"`
+		Hosts         []string `toml:"hosts"`
+		BasicUsername string   `toml:"basic_username"`
+		BasicPassword string   `toml:"basic_password"`
 
 		client *http.Client
 	}
@@ -95,6 +97,10 @@ func (*CouchDB) SampleConfig() string {
   ## Works with CouchDB stats endpoints out of the box
   ## Multiple Hosts from which to read CouchDB stats:
   hosts = ["http://localhost:8086/_stats"]
+
+  ## Use HTTP Basic Authentication.
+  # basic_username = "telegraf"
+  # basic_password = "p@ssw0rd"
 `
 }
 
@@ -124,7 +130,17 @@ func (c *CouchDB) fetchAndInsertData(accumulator telegraf.Accumulator, host stri
 			Timeout: time.Duration(4 * time.Second),
 		}
 	}
-	response, error := c.client.Get(host)
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", host, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if c.BasicUsername != "" || c.BasicPassword != "" {
+		req.SetBasicAuth(c.BasicUsername, c.BasicPassword)
+	}
+
+	response, error := c.client.Do(req)
 	if error != nil {
 		return error
 	}