diff --git a/hcl2template/plugin.go b/hcl2template/plugin.go
index 279f534e0..15358573d 100644
--- a/hcl2template/plugin.go
+++ b/hcl2template/plugin.go
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ func (cfg *PackerConfig) DetectPluginBinaries() hcl.Diagnostics {
 			continue
 		}
 		log.Printf("[TRACE] Found the following %q installations: %v", pluginRequirement.Identifier, sortedInstalls)
-		install := sortedInstalls[0]
+		install := sortedInstalls[len(sortedInstalls)-1]
 		err = cfg.parser.PluginConfig.DiscoverMultiPlugin(pluginRequirement.Accessor, install.BinaryPath)
 		if err != nil {
 			diags = append(diags, &hcl.Diagnostic{
diff --git a/packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go b/packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go
index 6fec3dddb..11511ee38 100644
--- a/packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go
+++ b/packer/plugin-getter/plugins.go
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ func (l InstallList) Less(i, j int) bool {
 		return lowRawPluginName < hiRawPluginName
 	}
 
-	return semver.Compare(lowPluginPath.Version, hiPluginPath.Version) > 0
+	return semver.Compare(lowPluginPath.Version, hiPluginPath.Version) < 0
 }
 
 // Swap swaps the elements with indexes i and j.
diff --git a/packer/plugin-getter/plugins_test.go b/packer/plugin-getter/plugins_test.go
index 4cc78acc3..9fb248304 100644
--- a/packer/plugin-getter/plugins_test.go
+++ b/packer/plugin-getter/plugins_test.go
@@ -507,3 +507,123 @@ func zipFile(content map[string]string) io.ReadCloser {
 }
 
 var _ Getter = &mockPluginGetter{}
+
+func Test_LessInstallList(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name       string
+		installs   InstallList
+		expectLess bool
+	}{
+		{
+			"v1.2.1 < v1.2.2 => true",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.1",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2",
+				},
+			},
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			// Impractical with the changes to the loading model
+			"v1.2.1 = v1.2.1 => false",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.1",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.1",
+				},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+		{
+			"v1.2.2 < v1.2.1 => false",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.1",
+				},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+		{
+			"v1.2.2-dev < v1.2.2 => true",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2-dev",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2",
+				},
+			},
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			"v1.2.2 < v1.2.2-dev => false",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2-dev",
+				},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+		{
+			"v1.2.1 < v1.2.2-dev => true",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.1",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2-dev",
+				},
+			},
+			true,
+		},
+		{
+			"v1.2.3 < v1.2.2-dev => false",
+			InstallList{
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "host/org/plugin",
+					Version:    "v1.2.3",
+				},
+				&Installation{
+					BinaryPath: "github.com",
+					Version:    "v1.2.2-dev",
+				},
+			},
+			false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			isLess := tt.installs.Less(0, 1)
+			if isLess != tt.expectLess {
+				t.Errorf("Less mismatch for %s < %s, expected %t, got %t",
+					tt.installs[0].Version,
+					tt.installs[1].Version,
+					tt.expectLess, isLess)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/packer/plugin.go b/packer/plugin.go
index 5fcef8954..c6d4c1259 100644
--- a/packer/plugin.go
+++ b/packer/plugin.go
@@ -100,16 +100,6 @@ func (c *PluginConfig) Discover() error {
 		}
 
 		pluginName := matches[1]
-
-		// If the plugin is already registered in the plugin map, we
-		// can ignore the current executable, as they're sorted by
-		// version in descending order, so if it's already in the map,
-		// a more recent version was already discovered.
-		_, ok := pluginMap[pluginName]
-		if ok {
-			continue
-		}
-
 		pluginMap[pluginName] = install.BinaryPath
 	}