diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2b6d8dd7..c668c0d4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
   plugins. We now explicitly reparent the window to back the root window first
   before deferring the window closing. This should fix the issue, while still
   keeping editor closing nice and snappy.
+- Allow plugin group host processes to shut down by themselves if it doesn't get
+  a request to host any plugins. This can happen when the DAW gets killed after
+  starting the group host process but before the native yabridge plugins
+  requests the group host process to host a plugin.
 - Prevented latency introducing plugins VST3 from causing **Ardour** and
   **Mixbus** to freeze when loading the plugin. This for example prevents
   _Neural DSP Darkglass_ from freezing when used under those DAWs.
diff --git a/src/wine-host/bridges/group.cpp b/src/wine-host/bridges/group.cpp
index e0017403..66e08c82 100644
--- a/src/wine-host/bridges/group.cpp
+++ b/src/wine-host/bridges/group.cpp
@@ -150,31 +150,17 @@ void GroupBridge::handle_plugin_run(size_t plugin_id, HostBridge* bridge) {
 
     // Defer actually shutting down the process to allow for fast plugin
     // scanning by allowing plugins to reuse the same group host process
-    std::lock_guard lock(shutdown_timer_mutex);
-    shutdown_timer.expires_after(2s);
-    shutdown_timer.async_wait([this](const boost::system::error_code& error) {
-        // A previous timer gets canceled automatically when another plugin
-        // exits
-        if (error.failed()) {
-            return;
-        }
-
-        std::lock_guard lock(active_plugins_mutex);
-        if (active_plugins.size() == 0) {
-            logger.log(
-                "All plugins have exited, shutting down the group process");
-
-            // main_context.stop();
-            // FIXME: See the comment in `individual-host.cpp`
-            TerminateProcess(GetCurrentProcess(), 0);
-        }
-    });
+    maybe_schedule_shutdown(4s);
 }
 
 void GroupBridge::handle_incoming_connections() {
     accept_requests();
     async_handle_events();
 
+    // If we don't get a request to host a plugin within ten seconds, we'll shut
+    // the process down again.
+    maybe_schedule_shutdown(10s);
+
     logger.log(
         "Group host is up and running, now accepting incoming connections");
     main_context.run();
@@ -332,6 +318,30 @@ boost::asio::local::stream_protocol::acceptor create_acceptor_if_inactive(
     }
 }
 
+void GroupBridge::maybe_schedule_shutdown(
+    std::chrono::steady_clock::duration delay) {
+    std::lock_guard lock(shutdown_timer_mutex);
+
+    shutdown_timer.expires_after(delay);
+    shutdown_timer.async_wait([this](const boost::system::error_code& error) {
+        // A previous timer gets canceled automatically when another plugin
+        // exits
+        if (error.failed()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        std::lock_guard lock(active_plugins_mutex);
+        if (active_plugins.size() == 0) {
+            logger.log(
+                "All plugins have exited, shutting down the group process");
+
+            // main_context.stop();
+            // FIXME: See the comment in `individual-host.cpp`
+            TerminateProcess(GetCurrentProcess(), 0);
+        }
+    });
+}
+
 std::string create_logger_prefix(const fs::path& socket_path) {
     // The group socket filename will be in the format
     // '/tmp/yabridge-group-<group_name>-<wine_prefix_id>-<architecture>.sock',
diff --git a/src/wine-host/bridges/group.h b/src/wine-host/bridges/group.h
index 76385af7..fd5ff5b9 100644
--- a/src/wine-host/bridges/group.h
+++ b/src/wine-host/bridges/group.h
@@ -187,6 +187,13 @@ class GroupBridge {
      */
     void async_handle_events();
 
+    /**
+     * After `delay` seconds, check if this group host process is (still)
+     * hosting any plugins. If not, then we'll terminate the process. When this
+     * function gets called multiple times later calls will reset the timer.
+     */
+    void maybe_schedule_shutdown(std::chrono::steady_clock::duration delay);
+
     /**
      * The logging facility used for this group host process. Since we can't
      * identify which plugin is generating (debug) output, every line will only