diff --git a/paddle/operators/activation_op.cc b/paddle/operators/activation_op.cc
index 61a201b6cd7198575c22ea506c72e9233057a852..ced14a8923140ec6b08e3e6725a5780b61033daf 100644
--- a/paddle/operators/activation_op.cc
+++ b/paddle/operators/activation_op.cc
@@ -206,6 +206,17 @@ class SquareOpMaker : public framework::OpProtoAndCheckerMaker {
   }
 };
 
+class SoftplusOpMaker : public framework::OpProtoAndCheckerMaker {
+ public:
+  SoftplusOpMaker(framework::OpProto *proto,
+                  framework::OpAttrChecker *op_checker)
+      : OpProtoAndCheckerMaker(proto, op_checker) {
+    AddInput("X", "Input of Softplus operator");
+    AddOutput("Y", "Output of Softplus operator");
+    AddComment("Softplus activation operator, softplus(x) = log(1 + exp(x))");
+  }
+};
+
 class SoftsignOpMaker : public framework::OpProtoAndCheckerMaker {
  public:
   SoftsignOpMaker(framework::OpProto *proto,
@@ -351,6 +362,9 @@ REGISTER_OP(log, ops::ActivationOp, ops::LogOpMaker, log_grad,
 REGISTER_OP(square, ops::ActivationOp, ops::SquareOpMaker, square_grad,
             ops::ActivationOpGrad);
 
+REGISTER_OP(softplus, ops::ActivationOp, ops::SoftplusOpMaker, softplus_grad,
+            ops::ActivationOpGrad);
+
 REGISTER_OP(softsign, ops::ActivationOp, ops::SoftsignOpMaker, softsign_grad,
             ops::ActivationOpGrad);
 
diff --git a/paddle/operators/activation_op.h b/paddle/operators/activation_op.h
index 29f159bbae1dca4da664c46a4af55823d9d6297b..f88c9c48eb9fcb779de5a99a45a832e582d76ab0 100644
--- a/paddle/operators/activation_op.h
+++ b/paddle/operators/activation_op.h
@@ -407,6 +407,33 @@ struct Relu6GradFunctor : public BaseActivationFunctor<T> {
   }
 };
 
+// softplus(x) = log(1 + exp(x))
+// When x is a very large positive number, exp(x) may explode to inf,
+// Using trick below for numerical stability
+// https://hips.seas.harvard.edu/blog/2013/01/09/computing-log-sum-exp/
+// Then: softplus(x) = max(x, 0) + log(exp(-max(x, 0)) + exp(x - max(x, 0)))
+template <typename T>
+struct SoftplusFunctor : public BaseActivationFunctor<T> {
+  template <typename Device, typename X, typename Y>
+  void operator()(Device d, X x, Y y) {
+    auto temp = x.cwiseMax(static_cast<T>(0));  // temp = max(x, 0)
+    y.device(d) = temp + (((-temp).exp() + (x - temp).exp()).log());
+  }
+};
+
+// d(softplus(x))/dx = exp(x) / (1 + exp(x))
+// For numerical stability:
+// d(softplus(x))/dx = exp(x - max(x, 0)) / (exp(-max(x, 0)) +
+// exp(x - max(x, 0)))
+template <typename T>
+struct SoftplusGradFunctor : public BaseActivationFunctor<T> {
+  template <typename Device, typename X, typename Y, typename dY, typename dX>
+  void operator()(Device d, X x, Y y, dY dy, dX dx) {
+    auto temp = x.cwiseMax(static_cast<T>(0));  // temp = max(x, 0)
+    dx.device(d) = dy * ((x - temp).exp() / ((-temp).exp() + (x - temp).exp()));
+  }
+};
+
 // softsign(x) = x / (1 + |x|)
 template <typename T>
 struct SoftsignFunctor : public BaseActivationFunctor<T> {
@@ -582,6 +609,7 @@ struct STanhGradFunctor : public BaseActivationFunctor<T> {
   __macro(soft_relu, SoftReluFunctor, SoftReluGradFunctor);       \
   __macro(pow, PowFunctor, PowGradFunctor);                       \
   __macro(stanh, STanhFunctor, STanhGradFunctor);                 \
+  __macro(softplus, SoftplusFunctor, SoftplusGradFunctor);        \
   __macro(softsign, SoftsignFunctor, SoftsignGradFunctor);        \
   __macro(relu6, Relu6Functor, Relu6GradFunctor);                 \
   __macro(leaky_relu, LeakyReluFunctor, LeakyReluGradFunctor);    \
diff --git a/python/paddle/v2/framework/tests/test_activation_op.py b/python/paddle/v2/framework/tests/test_activation_op.py
index 52e027bd54a03d263d473cd87d3e66f5dd34e812..a28c4431e1ae9230750247c0ed16c9aff37364fa 100644
--- a/python/paddle/v2/framework/tests/test_activation_op.py
+++ b/python/paddle/v2/framework/tests/test_activation_op.py
@@ -331,6 +331,21 @@ class TestSTanh(OpTest):
         self.check_grad(['X'], 'Y', max_relative_error=0.007)
 
 
+class TestSoftplus(OpTest):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.op_type = "softplus"
+        self.inputs = {
+            'X': np.random.uniform(-1, 1, [11, 17]).astype("float32")
+        }
+        self.outputs = {'Y': np.log(1 + np.exp(self.inputs['X']))}
+
+    def test_check_output(self):
+        self.check_output()
+
+    def test_check_grad(self):
+        self.check_grad(['X'], 'Y', max_relative_error=0.007)
+
+
 class TestSoftsign(OpTest):
     def setUp(self):
         self.op_type = "softsign"