diff --git a/product/copyVSIXToStage.sh b/product/copyVSIXToStage.sh
index 8a25232e5d..ab7166d1a9 100755
--- a/product/copyVSIXToStage.sh
+++ b/product/copyVSIXToStage.sh
@@ -15,10 +15,12 @@
 REMOTE_USER_AND_HOST="devspaces-build@spmm-util.engineering.redhat.com"
 MIDSTM_BRANCH=""
 DS_VERSION=""
+# optionally, delete old versions of devspaces-$DS_VERSION-pluginregistry
+DELETE_OLD_VERSIONS=0 
 
 usage ()
 {
-    echo "Usage: $0 -b devspaces-3.y-rhel-8 -v 3.y [-w WORKSPACE_DIR]
+    echo "Usage: $0 -b devspaces-3.y-rhel-8 -v 3.y [-w WORKSPACE_DIR] [--delete-old-versions]
 "
     exit
 }
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@ while [[ "$#" -gt 0 ]]; do
     '-b') MIDSTM_BRANCH="$2"; shift 1;;
     '-v') DS_VERSION="$2"; shift 1;; # 3.y.0
     '-w') WORKSPACE="$2"; shift 1;;
+    '--delete-old-versions') DELETE_OLD_VERSIONS=1;;
   esac
   shift 1
 done
@@ -37,8 +40,6 @@ if [[ ! "${MIDSTM_BRANCH}" ]]; then usage; fi
 if [[ ! "${WORKSPACE}" ]]; then WORKSPACE=/tmp; fi
 if [[ ! "$DS_VERSION" ]]; then DS_VERSION=$(curl -sSLo- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-developer/devspaces/${MIDSTM_BRANCH}/dependencies/VERSION"); fi
 
-
-
 STAGE_DIR="$WORKSPACE/devspaces-$DS_VERSION-pluginregistry"
 SOURCE_DIR="$STAGE_DIR/sources"
 PLUGIN_DIR="$STAGE_DIR/plugins"
@@ -50,3 +51,14 @@ mv *.tar.gz $SOURCE_DIR
 # next, update existing build-requirements/$PLUGIN_DIR folder (or create it if it does not exist)
 rsync -rlP "$STAGE_DIR" "$REMOTE_USER_AND_HOST:staging/devspaces/build-requirements"
 
+# optionally, delete old versions of devspaces-$DS_VERSION-pluginregistry, keeping only the last 3 folders (eg., for 3.x=3.12, keep 3.10, 3.11, and 3.12)
+if [[ $DELETE_OLD_VERSIONS -eq 1 ]]; then
+  OLD_VERSIONS="$(ssh "$REMOTE_USER_AND_HOST" "ls -1d staging/devspaces/build-requirements/devspaces-*-pluginregistry" 2>/dev/null | sort -V | head --lines=-3)"
+  for dir in $OLD_VERSIONS; do
+    echo "Remove old plugin registry folder: $dir ..."
+    ssh "$REMOTE_USER_AND_HOST" "rm -fr $dir"
+  done
+  REMAINING_VERSIONS="$(ssh "$REMOTE_USER_AND_HOST" "ls -1d staging/devspaces/build-requirements/devspaces-*-pluginregistry" 2>/dev/null | sort -V)"
+  echo "Available plugin registry folders:"
+  echo "$REMAINING_VERSIONS"
+fi