diff --git a/cmd/config.go b/cmd/config.go
index 603209a59..a30c82d78 100644
--- a/cmd/config.go
+++ b/cmd/config.go
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ var configAnnotations = map[string]string{
 	"<path>": "The path to your config (use \"-\" for STDIN)",
 }
 
+func GetConfigAPIHost(cfg *settings.Config) string {
+	if cfg.Host != defaultHost {
+		return cfg.Host
+	} else {
+		return cfg.ConfigAPIHost
+	}
+}
+
 func newConfigCommand(config *settings.Config) *cobra.Command {
 	opts := configOptions{
 		cfg: config,
@@ -68,7 +76,7 @@ func newConfigCommand(config *settings.Config) *cobra.Command {
 		Short:   "Check that the config file is well formed.",
 		PreRun: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			opts.args = args
-			opts.rest = rest.NewFromConfig(config.ConfigAPIHost, config)
+			opts.rest = rest.NewFromConfig(GetConfigAPIHost(opts.cfg), config)
 		},
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 			return validateConfig(opts, cmd.Flags())
@@ -90,7 +98,7 @@ func newConfigCommand(config *settings.Config) *cobra.Command {
 		Short: "Validate config and display expanded configuration.",
 		PreRun: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			opts.args = args
-			opts.rest = rest.NewFromConfig(config.ConfigAPIHost, config)
+			opts.rest = rest.NewFromConfig(GetConfigAPIHost(opts.cfg), config)
 		},
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 			return processConfig(opts, cmd.Flags())
diff --git a/cmd/config_test.go b/cmd/config_test.go
index d0ed9016d..1d0967e79 100644
--- a/cmd/config_test.go
+++ b/cmd/config_test.go
@@ -4,11 +4,15 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-cli/clitest"
+	"github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-cli/cmd"
+	"github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-cli/settings"
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
 	"github.com/onsi/gomega/gexec"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"gotest.tools/v3/golden"
 )
 
@@ -246,3 +250,17 @@ var _ = Describe("Config", func() {
 		})
 	})
 })
+
+func TestGetConfigAPIHost(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("tests that we correctly get the config api host when the host is not the default one", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// if the host isn't equal to `https://circleci.com` then this is likely a server instance and
+		// wont have the api.X.com subdomain so we should instead just respect the host for config commands
+		host := cmd.GetConfigAPIHost(&settings.Config{Host: "test"})
+		assert.Equal(t, host, "test")
+
+		// If the host passed in is the same as the defaultHost 'https://circleci.com' - then we know this is cloud
+		// and as such should use the `api.circleci.com` subdomain
+		host = cmd.GetConfigAPIHost(&settings.Config{Host: "https://circleci.com", ConfigAPIHost: "https://api.circleci.com"})
+		assert.Equal(t, host, "https://api.circleci.com")
+	})
+}