diff --git a/packages/core/src/UserSettings.ts b/packages/core/src/UserSettings.ts
index dd97b9f406..af32d5e36c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/UserSettings.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/UserSettings.ts
@@ -159,9 +159,14 @@ export async function getUserSettings(settingsPath?: string, ignoreCache?: boole
 	}
 
 	const settingsFile = await fsReadFile(settingsPath, 'utf8');
-	settingsCache = JSON.parse(settingsFile);
 
-	return JSON.parse(settingsFile) as IUserSettings;
+	try {
+		settingsCache = JSON.parse(settingsFile);
+	} catch (error) {
+		throw new Error(`Error parsing n8n-config file "${settingsPath}". It does not seem to be valid JSON.`);
+	}
+
+	return settingsCache as IUserSettings;
 }