diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/compare_autocomplete.js b/app/assets/javascripts/compare_autocomplete.js
index 4e3a28cd163ba9b299e7e984066eccf4335d05f4..294d2c9052cf9197ec75b7181017e0b7ee84ce0d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/compare_autocomplete.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/compare_autocomplete.js
@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@
           selectable: true,
           filterable: true,
           filterByText: true,
-          fieldName: $dropdown.attr('name'),
-          filterInput: 'input[type="text"]',
+          toggleLabel: true,
+          fieldName: $dropdown.data('field-name'),
+          filterInput: 'input[type="search"]',
           renderRow: function(ref) {
             var link;
             if (ref.header != null) {
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/pages/projects.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/pages/projects.scss
index 8c8c403244e3216a2c22d20e5ddaa4c29010e517..7c8ab7cb2a29556cc434c3f0915fea3834e79a09 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/pages/projects.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/pages/projects.scss
@@ -743,6 +743,19 @@ pre.light-well {
   .dropdown-menu {
     width: 300px;
   }
+
+  > .input-group > .compare-dropdown-toggle {
+    width: 200px;
+
+    .dropdown-toggle-text {
+      display: block;
+      height: 100%;
+      overflow: hidden;
+      text-overflow: ellipsis;
+      white-space: nowrap;
+      width: 100%;
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 .clearable-input {
@@ -779,4 +792,4 @@ pre.light-well {
     border-top-right-radius: 0;
     border-bottom-right-radius: 0;
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/app/views/projects/compare/_form.html.haml b/app/views/projects/compare/_form.html.haml
index d79336f5a6035e4cef05bd618d5765d4dc84c2fa..b66027115b2860c9083fdd211dfcebcaa064b99a 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/compare/_form.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/projects/compare/_form.html.haml
@@ -5,13 +5,17 @@
     .form-group.dropdown.compare-form-group.js-compare-from-dropdown
       .input-group.inline-input-group
         %span.input-group-addon from
-        = text_field_tag :from, params[:from], class: "form-control js-compare-dropdown", required: true, data: { refs_url: refs_namespace_project_path(@project.namespace, @project), toggle: "dropdown", target: ".js-compare-from-dropdown", selected: params[:from].presence }
+        = hidden_field_tag :from, params[:from]
+        = button_tag type: 'button', class: "form-control compare-dropdown-toggle js-compare-dropdown", required: true, data: { refs_url: refs_namespace_project_path(@project.namespace, @project), toggle: "dropdown", target: ".js-compare-from-dropdown", selected: params[:from], field_name: :from } do
+          .dropdown-toggle-text= params[:from] || 'Select branch/tag'
       = render "ref_dropdown"
     = "..."
     .form-group.dropdown.compare-form-group.js-compare-to-dropdown
       .input-group.inline-input-group
         %span.input-group-addon to
-        = text_field_tag :to, params[:to], class: "form-control js-compare-dropdown", required: true, data: { refs_url: refs_namespace_project_path(@project.namespace, @project), toggle: "dropdown", target: ".js-compare-to-dropdown", selected: params[:to].presence }
+        = hidden_field_tag :to, params[:to]
+        = button_tag type: 'button', class: "form-control compare-dropdown-toggle js-compare-dropdown", required: true, data: { refs_url: refs_namespace_project_path(@project.namespace, @project), toggle: "dropdown", target: ".js-compare-to-dropdown", selected: params[:to], field_name: :to } do
+          .dropdown-toggle-text= params[:to] || 'Select branch/tag'
       = render "ref_dropdown"
      
     = button_tag "Compare", class: "btn btn-create commits-compare-btn"
diff --git a/app/views/projects/compare/_ref_dropdown.html.haml b/app/views/projects/compare/_ref_dropdown.html.haml
index c604c6d0135111125f2f2464118fb4a1caf91c7c..27d928c87a0cd4db3c6e4ded2f9564cbb2492f48 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/compare/_ref_dropdown.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/projects/compare/_ref_dropdown.html.haml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .dropdown-menu.dropdown-menu-selectable
   = dropdown_title "Select branch/tag"
+  = dropdown_filter "Filter by branch/tag"
   = dropdown_content
   = dropdown_loading
diff --git a/spec/features/compare_spec.rb b/spec/features/compare_spec.rb
index ca7f73e24cc864d9290cc2407c259b59d4ef4eb8..33dfd0d5b6298fd5152c6edf231adda9022e189e 100644
--- a/spec/features/compare_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/compare_spec.rb
@@ -12,15 +12,16 @@ describe "Compare", js: true do
 
   describe "branches" do
     it "pre-populates fields" do
-      expect(page.find_field("from").value).to eq("master")
+      expect(find(".js-compare-from-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("master")
+      expect(find(".js-compare-to-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("master")
     end
 
     it "compares branches" do
-      fill_in "from", with: "fea"
-      find("#from").click
+      select_using_dropdown "from", "feature"
+      expect(find(".js-compare-from-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("feature")
 
-      click_link "feature"
-      expect(page.find_field("from").value).to eq("feature")
+      select_using_dropdown "to", "binary-encoding"
+      expect(find(".js-compare-to-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("binary-encoding")
 
       click_button "Compare"
       expect(page).to have_content "Commits"
@@ -29,14 +30,21 @@ describe "Compare", js: true do
 
   describe "tags" do
     it "compares tags" do
-      fill_in "from", with: "v1.0"
-      find("#from").click
+      select_using_dropdown "from", "v1.0.0"
+      expect(find(".js-compare-from-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("v1.0.0")
 
-      click_link "v1.0.0"
-      expect(page.find_field("from").value).to eq("v1.0.0")
+      select_using_dropdown "to", "v1.1.0"
+      expect(find(".js-compare-to-dropdown .dropdown-toggle-text")).to have_content("v1.1.0")
 
       click_button "Compare"
       expect(page).to have_content "Commits"
     end
   end
+
+  def select_using_dropdown(dropdown_type, selection)
+    dropdown = find(".js-compare-#{dropdown_type}-dropdown")
+    dropdown.find(".compare-dropdown-toggle").click
+    dropdown.fill_in("Filter by branch/tag", with: selection)
+    click_link selection
+  end
 end