diff --git a/.changeset/fair-lemons-beam.md b/.changeset/fair-lemons-beam.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9f7305b56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fair-lemons-beam.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@verdaccio/logger-prettify': minor
+'@verdaccio/logger': patch
+---
+
+hydrate template placeholders in log messages when format is set to 'json'
diff --git a/packages/logger-prettify/src/index.ts b/packages/logger-prettify/src/index.ts
index 37ae40e80..efbc0ec09 100644
--- a/packages/logger-prettify/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/logger-prettify/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-import { printMessage } from './formatter';
+import { fillInMsgTemplate, printMessage } from './formatter';
 import { PrettyOptionsExtended } from './types';
 
+export { fillInMsgTemplate };
+
 export type PrettyFactory = (param) => string;
 
 /*
@@ -8,11 +10,11 @@ export type PrettyFactory = (param) => string;
  { messageKey: 'msg', levelFirst: true, prettyStamp: false }
  */
 
-module.exports = function prettyFactory(options: PrettyOptionsExtended): PrettyFactory {
+export default function prettyFactory(options: PrettyOptionsExtended): PrettyFactory {
   // the break line must happens in the prettify component
   const breakLike = '\n';
   return (inputData): string => {
     // FIXME: review colors by default is true
     return printMessage(inputData, options, true) + breakLike;
   };
-};
+}
diff --git a/packages/logger/src/logger.ts b/packages/logger/src/logger.ts
index 3d8b9b0e6..787ef5f7f 100644
--- a/packages/logger/src/logger.ts
+++ b/packages/logger/src/logger.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import _ from 'lodash';
 import pino from 'pino';
 
 import { warningUtils } from '@verdaccio/core';
+import prettifier, { fillInMsgTemplate } from '@verdaccio/logger-prettify';
 
 const debug = buildDebug('verdaccio:logger');
 
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ export function createLogger(
   // pretty logs are not allowed in production for performance reasons
   if ((format === DEFAULT_LOG_FORMAT || format !== 'json') && isProd() === false) {
     pinoConfig = Object.assign({}, pinoConfig, {
+      prettifier,
       // more info
       // https://github.com/pinojs/pino-pretty/issues/37
       prettyPrint: {
@@ -60,7 +62,23 @@ export function createLogger(
         prettyStamp: format === 'pretty-timestamped',
         ...prettyPrintOptions,
       },
-      prettifier: require('@verdaccio/logger-prettify'),
+    });
+  } else {
+    pinoConfig = Object.assign({}, pinoConfig, {
+      // more info
+      // https://github.com/pinojs/pino/blob/v7.1.0/docs/api.md#hooks-object
+      hooks: {
+        logMethod(inputArgs, method) {
+          const [templateObject, message, ...otherArgs] = inputArgs;
+          const templateVars =
+            !!templateObject && typeof templateObject === 'object'
+              ? Object.getOwnPropertyNames(templateObject)
+              : [];
+          if (!message || !templateVars.length) return method.apply(this, inputArgs);
+          const hydratedMessage = fillInMsgTemplate(message, templateObject, false);
+          return method.apply(this, [templateObject, hydratedMessage, ...otherArgs]);
+        },
+      },
     });
   }
   const logger = pino(pinoConfig, destination);