diff --git a/command/plan.go b/command/plan.go
index f1294b05f..7f2347662 100644
--- a/command/plan.go
+++ b/command/plan.go
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ func (c *PlanCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	cmdFlags.IntVar(
 		&c.Meta.parallelism, "parallelism", DefaultParallelism, "parallelism")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.statePath, "state", DefaultStateFilename, "path")
-	cmdFlags.StringVar(&c.Meta.backupPath, "backup", "", "path")
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&detailed, "detailed-exitcode", false, "detailed-exitcode")
 	cmdFlags.Usage = func() { c.Ui.Error(c.Help()) }
 	if err := cmdFlags.Parse(args); err != nil {
@@ -79,21 +78,15 @@ func (c *PlanCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	}
 
 	if refresh {
-		c.Ui.Output("Refreshing Terraform state prior to plan...\n")
-		state, err := ctx.Refresh()
+		c.Ui.Output("Refreshing Terraform state in-memory prior to plan...")
+		c.Ui.Output("The refreshed state will be used to calculate this plan, but")
+		c.Ui.Output("will not be persisted to local or remote state storage.\n")
+		_, err := ctx.Refresh()
 		if err != nil {
 			c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error refreshing state: %s", err))
 			return 1
 		}
 		c.Ui.Output("")
-
-		if state != nil {
-			log.Printf("[INFO] Writing state output to: %s", c.Meta.StateOutPath())
-			if err := c.Meta.PersistState(state); err != nil {
-				c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error writing state file: %s", err))
-				return 1
-			}
-		}
 	}
 
 	plan, err := ctx.Plan()
diff --git a/command/plan_test.go b/command/plan_test.go
index 8736b8cc9..e0bc6c41d 100644
--- a/command/plan_test.go
+++ b/command/plan_test.go
@@ -88,23 +88,6 @@ func TestPlan_destroy(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-
-	f, err := os.Open(statePath + DefaultBackupExtension)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	backupState, err := terraform.ReadState(f)
-	f.Close()
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	actualStr := strings.TrimSpace(backupState.String())
-	expectedStr := strings.TrimSpace(originalState.String())
-	if actualStr != expectedStr {
-		t.Fatalf("bad:\n\n%s\n\n%s", actualStr, expectedStr)
-	}
 }
 
 func TestPlan_noState(t *testing.T) {
@@ -560,154 +543,6 @@ func TestPlan_varFileDefault(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestPlan_backup(t *testing.T) {
-	// Write out some prior state
-	tf, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "tf")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-	statePath := tf.Name()
-	defer os.Remove(tf.Name())
-
-	// Write out some prior state
-	backupf, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "tf")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-	backupPath := backupf.Name()
-	backupf.Close()
-	os.Remove(backupPath)
-	defer os.Remove(backupPath)
-
-	originalState := &terraform.State{
-		Modules: []*terraform.ModuleState{
-			&terraform.ModuleState{
-				Path: []string{"root"},
-				Resources: map[string]*terraform.ResourceState{
-					"test_instance.foo": &terraform.ResourceState{
-						Type: "test_instance",
-						Primary: &terraform.InstanceState{
-							ID: "bar",
-						},
-					},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-	}
-
-	err = terraform.WriteState(originalState, tf)
-	tf.Close()
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	p := testProvider()
-	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
-	c := &PlanCommand{
-		Meta: Meta{
-			ContextOpts: testCtxConfig(p),
-			Ui:          ui,
-		},
-	}
-
-	args := []string{
-		"-state", statePath,
-		"-backup", backupPath,
-		testFixturePath("plan"),
-	}
-	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
-		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
-	}
-
-	// Verify that the provider was called with the existing state
-	actual := strings.TrimSpace(p.DiffState.String())
-	expected := strings.TrimSpace(testPlanBackupStr)
-	if actual != expected {
-		t.Fatalf("bad:\n\n%s", actual)
-	}
-
-	// Verify the backup exist
-	f, err := os.Open(backupPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	backupState, err := terraform.ReadState(f)
-	f.Close()
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	actualStr := strings.TrimSpace(backupState.String())
-	expectedStr := strings.TrimSpace(originalState.String())
-	if actualStr != expectedStr {
-		t.Fatalf("bad:\n\n%s\n\n%s", actualStr, expectedStr)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestPlan_disableBackup(t *testing.T) {
-	// Write out some prior state
-	tf, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "tf")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-	statePath := tf.Name()
-	defer os.Remove(tf.Name())
-
-	originalState := &terraform.State{
-		Modules: []*terraform.ModuleState{
-			&terraform.ModuleState{
-				Path: []string{"root"},
-				Resources: map[string]*terraform.ResourceState{
-					"test_instance.foo": &terraform.ResourceState{
-						Type: "test_instance",
-						Primary: &terraform.InstanceState{
-							ID: "bar",
-						},
-					},
-				},
-			},
-		},
-	}
-
-	err = terraform.WriteState(originalState, tf)
-	tf.Close()
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
-	}
-
-	p := testProvider()
-	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
-	c := &PlanCommand{
-		Meta: Meta{
-			ContextOpts: testCtxConfig(p),
-			Ui:          ui,
-		},
-	}
-
-	args := []string{
-		"-state", statePath,
-		"-backup", "-",
-		testFixturePath("plan"),
-	}
-	if code := c.Run(args); code != 0 {
-		t.Fatalf("bad: %d\n\n%s", code, ui.ErrorWriter.String())
-	}
-
-	// Verify that the provider was called with the existing state
-	actual := strings.TrimSpace(p.DiffState.String())
-	expected := strings.TrimSpace(testPlanDisableBackupStr)
-	if actual != expected {
-		t.Fatalf("bad:\n\n%s", actual)
-	}
-
-	// Ensure there is no backup
-	_, err = os.Stat(statePath + DefaultBackupExtension)
-	if err == nil || !os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		t.Fatalf("backup should not exist")
-	}
-}
-
 func TestPlan_detailedExitcode(t *testing.T) {
 	cwd, err := os.Getwd()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -762,14 +597,6 @@ const planVarFile = `
 foo = "bar"
 `
 
-const testPlanBackupStr = `
-ID = bar
-`
-
-const testPlanDisableBackupStr = `
-ID = bar
-`
-
 const testPlanNoStateStr = `
 <not created>
 `