diff --git a/.all-contributorsrc b/.all-contributorsrc
index 84ea2088..41fab63e 100644
--- a/.all-contributorsrc
+++ b/.all-contributorsrc
@@ -143,6 +143,15 @@
       "contributions": [
         "fundingFinding"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "login": "schaab",
+      "name": "Jared Schaab",
+      "avatar_url": "https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/1103255?v=4",
+      "profile": "https://github.com/schaab",
+      "contributions": [
+        "code"
+      ]
     }
   ],
   "repoType": "github",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6dae795b..c439cdcb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
     "babel-plugin-transform-react-remove-prop-types": "^0.4.21",
     "browserslist": "^4.6.6",
     "concurrently": "^4.1.1",
+    "cosmiconfig": "^5.2.1",
     "cross-env": "^5.1.4",
     "cross-spawn": "^6.0.5",
     "doctoc": "^1.4.0",
diff --git a/src/__tests__/utils.js b/src/__tests__/utils.js
index e812bffe..b086735f 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/utils.js
+++ b/src/__tests__/utils.js
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@ jest.mock('read-pkg-up', () => ({
   sync: jest.fn(() => ({package: {}, path: '/blah/package.json'})),
 }))
 jest.mock('which', () => ({sync: jest.fn(() => {})}))
+jest.mock('cosmiconfig', () => {
+  const actual = jest.requireActual('cosmiconfig')
+
+  function cosmiconfig(name, options) {
+    return actual(name, options)
+  }
+
+  return jest.fn(cosmiconfig)
+})
 
 let whichSyncMock, readPkgUpSyncMock
 
@@ -137,6 +146,30 @@ test('ifFile returns the true argument if true and the false argument if false',
   expect(require('../utils').ifFile('does-not-exist.blah', t, f)).toBe(f)
 })
 
+test('hasLocalConfiguration returns false if no local configuration found', () => {
+  mockCosmiconfig()
+
+  expect(require('../utils').hasLocalConfig('module')).toBe(false)
+})
+
+test('hasLocalConfig returns true if a local configuration found', () => {
+  mockCosmiconfig({config: {}, filepath: 'path/to/config'})
+
+  expect(require('../utils').hasLocalConfig('module')).toBe(true)
+})
+
+test('hasLocalConfiguration returns true if a local config found and it is empty', () => {
+  mockCosmiconfig({isEmpty: true})
+
+  expect(require('../utils').hasLocalConfig('module')).toBe(true)
+})
+
 function mockPkg({package: pkg = {}, path = '/blah/package.json'}) {
   readPkgUpSyncMock.mockImplementationOnce(() => ({package: pkg, path}))
 }
+
+function mockCosmiconfig(result = null) {
+  const cosmiconfig = require('cosmiconfig')
+
+  cosmiconfig.mockImplementationOnce(() => ({searchSync: () => result}))
+}
diff --git a/src/scripts/format.js b/src/scripts/format.js
index 94b804ad..2142084d 100644
--- a/src/scripts/format.js
+++ b/src/scripts/format.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const path = require('path')
 const spawn = require('cross-spawn')
 const yargsParser = require('yargs-parser')
-const {hasPkgProp, resolveBin, hasFile} = require('../utils')
+const {resolveBin, hasFile, hasLocalConfig} = require('../utils')
 
 const args = process.argv.slice(2)
 const parsedArgs = yargsParser(args)
@@ -10,10 +10,7 @@ const here = p => path.join(__dirname, p)
 const hereRelative = p => here(p).replace(process.cwd(), '.')
 
 const useBuiltinConfig =
-  !args.includes('--config') &&
-  !hasFile('.prettierrc') &&
-  !hasFile('prettier.config.js') &&
-  !hasPkgProp('prettierrc')
+  !args.includes('--config') && !hasLocalConfig('prettier')
 const config = useBuiltinConfig
   ? ['--config', hereRelative('../config/prettierrc.js')]
   : []
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 7847f776..c14fdbb3 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const arrify = require('arrify')
 const has = require('lodash.has')
 const readPkgUp = require('read-pkg-up')
 const which = require('which')
+const cosmiconfig = require('cosmiconfig')
 
 const {package: pkg, path: pkgPath} = readPkgUp.sync({
   cwd: fs.realpathSync(process.cwd()),
@@ -168,12 +169,20 @@ function writeExtraEntry(name, {cjs, esm}, clean = true) {
   )
 }
 
+function hasLocalConfig(moduleName, searchOptions = {}) {
+  const explorer = cosmiconfig(moduleName, searchOptions)
+  const result = explorer.searchSync(pkgPath)
+
+  return result !== null
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   appDirectory,
   envIsSet,
   fromRoot,
   getConcurrentlyArgs,
   hasFile,
+  hasLocalConfig,
   hasPkgProp,
   hasScript,
   ifAnyDep,