diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d9f7485b9d..7fb71e6203 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 ### Features
   1. [#1477](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/pull/1477): Add ability to log alerts
+  1. [#1474](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/pull/1474): Change behavior of template variable autocomplete to filter by exact match from front of string
 
 ### UI Improvements
   1. [#1451](https://github.com/influxdata/chronograf/pull/1451): Refactor scrollbars to support non-webkit browsers
diff --git a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/QueryEditor.js b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/QueryEditor.js
index f3e3d2a8f1..e4e17ac4d9 100644
--- a/ui/src/data_explorer/components/QueryEditor.js
+++ b/ui/src/data_explorer/components/QueryEditor.js
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ class QueryEditor extends Component {
       const start = this.editor.selectionStart
       const end = this.editor.selectionEnd
       const filteredTemplates = templates.filter(t =>
-        t.tempVar.includes(matched[0].substring(1))
+        t.tempVar.startsWith(matched[0])
       )
 
       const found = filteredTemplates.find(