diff --git a/pkg/commands/root.go b/pkg/commands/root.go
index 8ab119608dc7..7d6af460dec9 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/root.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/root.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"runtime/trace"
 	"strconv"
 
+	"github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/pkg/exitcodes"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ import (
 func (e *Executor) persistentPreRun(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 	if e.cfg.Run.PrintVersion {
 		_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(logutils.StdOut, "golangci-lint has version %s built from %s on %s\n", e.version, e.commit, e.date)
-		return nil
+		os.Exit(exitcodes.Success)
 	}
 
 	runtime.GOMAXPROCS(e.cfg.Run.Concurrency)