diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadata.java
index a714ee4cf5ec0..77415bbaea949 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadata.java
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ public void verifyUpgradeToCurrentVersion() {
         assert (nodeVersion.equals(Version.V_EMPTY) == false) || (Version.CURRENT.major <= Version.V_7_0_0.major + 1)
             : "version is required in the node metadata from v9 onwards";
 
-        if (NodeMetadata.isNodeVersionWireCompatible(nodeVersion.toString()) == false) {
+        if (nodeVersion.before(Version.CURRENT.minimumCompatibilityVersion())) {
             throw new IllegalStateException(
                 "cannot upgrade a node from version ["
                     + nodeVersion
@@ -222,20 +222,4 @@ public NodeMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOException {
 
     public static final MetadataStateFormat<NodeMetadata> FORMAT = new NodeMetadataStateFormat(false);
 
-    /**
-     * Check whether a node version is compatible with the current minimum transport version.
-     * @param version A version identifier as a string
-     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if version is not a valid transport version identifier
-     * @return true if the version is compatible, false otherwise
-     */
-    // visible for testing
-    static boolean isNodeVersionWireCompatible(String version) {
-        try {
-            Version esVersion = Version.fromString(version);
-            return esVersion.onOrAfter(Version.CURRENT.minimumCompatibilityVersion());
-        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot parse [" + version + "] as a transport version identifier", e);
-        }
-    }
-
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadataTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadataTests.java
index fc89e4d2176c1..b7001943073bc 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadataTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/env/NodeMetadataTests.java
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexVersions;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.EqualsHashCodeTestUtils;
-import org.elasticsearch.test.TransportVersionUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.VersionUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.index.IndexVersionUtils;
 
@@ -160,23 +159,6 @@ public void testUpgradeMarksPreviousVersion() {
         assertThat(nodeMetadata.previousNodeVersion(), equalTo(version));
     }
 
-    public void testIsNodeVersionWireCompatible() {
-        String nodeVersion = VersionUtils.randomCompatibleVersion(random(), Version.CURRENT).toString();
-        assertTrue(NodeMetadata.isNodeVersionWireCompatible(nodeVersion));
-        nodeVersion = VersionUtils.getPreviousVersion(Version.CURRENT.minimumCompatibilityVersion()).toString();
-        assertFalse(NodeMetadata.isNodeVersionWireCompatible(nodeVersion));
-
-        String transportVersion = TransportVersionUtils.randomCompatibleVersion(random()).toString();
-        IllegalArgumentException e1 = expectThrows(
-            IllegalArgumentException.class,
-            () -> NodeMetadata.isNodeVersionWireCompatible(transportVersion)
-        );
-        assertThat(e1.getMessage(), equalTo("Cannot parse [" + transportVersion + "] as a transport version identifier"));
-
-        IllegalArgumentException e2 = expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> NodeMetadata.isNodeVersionWireCompatible("x.y.z"));
-        assertThat(e2.getMessage(), equalTo("Cannot parse [x.y.z] as a transport version identifier"));
-    }
-
     public static Version tooNewVersion() {
         return Version.fromId(between(Version.CURRENT.id + 1, 99999999));
     }