diff --git a/Essentials/src/main/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListener.java b/Essentials/src/main/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListener.java
index 3b8c2f6e3f4..231c9ab4b15 100644
--- a/Essentials/src/main/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListener.java
+++ b/Essentials/src/main/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListener.java
@@ -776,7 +776,8 @@ public void onPlayerBucketEmpty(final PlayerBucketEmptyEvent event) {
 
     @EventHandler(priority = EventPriority.MONITOR, ignoreCancelled = true)
     public void onPlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent event) {
-        final String cmd = event.getMessage().split(" ")[0].replace("/", "").toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
+        final String commandLabel = event.getMessage().split(" ")[0].replace("/", "");
+        final String cmd = commandLabel.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
         final int argStartIndex = event.getMessage().indexOf(" ");
         final String args = argStartIndex == -1 ? "" // No arguments present
                 : event.getMessage().substring(argStartIndex); // arguments start at argStartIndex; substring from there.
@@ -784,7 +785,7 @@ public void onPlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent event)
         // If the plugin command does not exist, check if it is an alias from commands.yml
         if (ess.getServer().getPluginCommand(cmd) == null) {
             final Command knownCommand = ess.provider(KnownCommandsProvider.class).getKnownCommands().get(cmd);
-            if (knownCommand instanceof FormattedCommandAlias) {
+            if (isCommandRegistered(commandLabel) && knownCommand instanceof FormattedCommandAlias) {
                 final FormattedCommandAlias command = (FormattedCommandAlias) knownCommand;
                 for (String fullCommand : ess.provider(FormattedCommandAliasProvider.class).createCommands(command, event.getPlayer(), args.split(" "))) {
                     handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(event, fullCommand);
@@ -794,12 +795,13 @@ public void onPlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent event)
         }
 
         // Handle the command given from the event.
-        handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(event, cmd + args);
+        handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(event, commandLabel + args);
     }
 
     public void handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent event, final String effectiveCommand) {
         final Player player = event.getPlayer();
-        final String cmd = effectiveCommand.split(" ")[0].replace("/", "").toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
+        final String commandLabel = effectiveCommand.split(" ")[0].replace("/", "");
+        final String cmd = commandLabel.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
         final PluginCommand pluginCommand = ess.getServer().getPluginCommand(cmd);
 
         if (ess.getSettings().getSocialSpyCommands().contains(cmd) || ess.getSettings().getSocialSpyCommands().contains("*")) {
@@ -862,7 +864,8 @@ public void handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent eve
             user.updateActivityOnInteract(broadcast);
         }
 
-        if (ess.getSettings().isCommandCooldownsEnabled()
+        if (isCommandRegistered(commandLabel)
+            && ess.getSettings().isCommandCooldownsEnabled()
             && !user.isAuthorized("essentials.commandcooldowns.bypass")
             && (pluginCommand == null || !user.isAuthorized("essentials.commandcooldowns.bypass." + pluginCommand.getName()))) {
             final int argStartIndex = effectiveCommand.indexOf(" ");
@@ -902,6 +905,12 @@ public void handlePlayerCommandPreprocess(final PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent eve
         }
     }
 
+    private boolean isCommandRegistered(final String commandLabel) {
+        final Map<String, Command> knownCommands = ess.provider(KnownCommandsProvider.class).getKnownCommands();
+        return knownCommands.containsKey(commandLabel)
+            || (VersionUtil.PRE_FLATTENING && knownCommands.containsKey(commandLabel.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH)));
+    }
+
     @EventHandler(priority = EventPriority.NORMAL)
     public void onPlayerChangedWorldFlyReset(final PlayerChangedWorldEvent event) {
         final User user = ess.getUser(event.getPlayer());
diff --git a/Essentials/src/test/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListenerTest.java b/Essentials/src/test/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListenerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dc98c807003
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Essentials/src/test/java/com/earth2me/essentials/EssentialsPlayerListenerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+package com.earth2me.essentials;
+
+import net.ess3.api.IEssentials;
+import net.ess3.provider.KnownCommandsProvider;
+import org.bukkit.Server;
+import org.bukkit.command.PluginCommand;
+import org.bukkit.entity.Player;
+import org.bukkit.event.player.PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockbukkit.mockbukkit.MockBukkit;
+
+import java.util.AbstractMap;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyBoolean;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.anyString;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+public class EssentialsPlayerListenerTest {
+    private IEssentials ess;
+    private ISettings settings;
+    private User user;
+    private Player player;
+    private Pattern cooldownPattern;
+    private EssentialsPlayerListener listener;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    public void setUp() {
+        player = MockBukkit.mock().addPlayer();
+        ess = mock(IEssentials.class);
+        settings = mock(ISettings.class);
+        user = mock(User.class);
+        final Server commandServer = mock(Server.class);
+        final PluginCommand pluginCommand = mock(PluginCommand.class);
+        final KnownCommandsProvider knownCommandsProvider = mock(KnownCommandsProvider.class);
+        cooldownPattern = Pattern.compile("feed");
+
+        when(ess.getServer()).thenReturn(commandServer);
+        when(ess.getSettings()).thenReturn(settings);
+        when(ess.getUser(player)).thenReturn(user);
+        when(ess.provider(KnownCommandsProvider.class)).thenReturn(knownCommandsProvider);
+        when(knownCommandsProvider.getKnownCommands()).thenReturn(Collections.singletonMap("efeed", pluginCommand));
+        when(commandServer.getPluginCommand("efeed")).thenReturn(pluginCommand);
+        when(pluginCommand.getName()).thenReturn("feed");
+        when(settings.getSocialSpyCommands()).thenReturn(Collections.emptySet());
+        when(settings.getMuteCommands()).thenReturn(Collections.emptySet());
+        when(settings.isCommandCooldownsEnabled()).thenReturn(true);
+        when(settings.getCommandCooldownEntry("feed")).thenReturn(new AbstractMap.SimpleImmutableEntry<>(cooldownPattern, 60_000L));
+        when(user.getCommandCooldowns()).thenReturn(Collections.emptyMap());
+        listener = new EssentialsPlayerListener(ess);
+    }
+
+    @AfterEach
+    public void tearDown() {
+        MockBukkit.unmock();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnregisteredCaseVariantDoesNotStartCooldown() {
+        listener.onPlayerCommandPreprocess(new PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent(player, "/EFEED"));
+
+        verify(settings, never()).getCommandCooldownEntry(anyString());
+        verify(user, never()).addCommandCooldown(any(Pattern.class), any(Date.class), anyBoolean());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testRegisteredAliasStartsCanonicalCommandCooldown() {
+        listener.onPlayerCommandPreprocess(new PlayerCommandPreprocessEvent(player, "/efeed"));
+
+        verify(settings).getCommandCooldownEntry("feed");
+        verify(user).addCommandCooldown(eq(cooldownPattern), any(Date.class), eq(false));
+    }
+}