diff --git a/cmd/zpool/zpool_main.c b/cmd/zpool/zpool_main.c
index 2b6ff4a658c6..7eb8ba8da036 100644
--- a/cmd/zpool/zpool_main.c
+++ b/cmd/zpool/zpool_main.c
@@ -4685,7 +4685,7 @@ upgrade_version(zpool_handle_t *zhp, uint64_t version)
 		return (ret);
 
 	if (unsupp_fs) {
-		(void) printf(gettext("Upgrade not performed due to %d "
+		(void) fprintf(stderr, gettext("Upgrade not performed due to %d "
 		    "unsupported filesystems (max v%d).\n"),
 		    unsupp_fs, (int) ZPL_VERSION);
 		return (1);
@@ -4900,7 +4900,7 @@ upgrade_one(zpool_handle_t *zhp, void *data)
 	int ret;
 
 	if (strcmp("log", zpool_get_name(zhp)) == 0) {
-		(void) printf(gettext("'log' is now a reserved word\n"
+		(void) fprintf(stderr, gettext("'log' is now a reserved word\n"
 		    "Pool 'log' must be renamed using export and import"
 		    " to upgrade.\n"));
 		return (1);