diff --git a/net.c b/net.c
index 1092bdcaa5..3ede738cac 100644
--- a/net.c
+++ b/net.c
@@ -976,6 +976,14 @@ static const struct {
                 .name = "vnet_hdr",
                 .type = QEMU_OPT_BOOL,
                 .help = "enable the IFF_VNET_HDR flag on the tap interface"
+            }, {
+                .name = "vhost",
+                .type = QEMU_OPT_BOOL,
+                .help = "enable vhost-net network accelerator",
+            }, {
+                .name = "vhostfd",
+                .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
+                .help = "file descriptor of an already opened vhost net device",
             },
 #endif /* _WIN32 */
             { /* end of list */ }
diff --git a/net/tap.c b/net/tap.c
index c19740b584..740665f5b6 100644
--- a/net/tap.c
+++ b/net/tap.c
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@
 
 #include "net/tap-linux.h"
 
+#include "hw/vhost_net.h"
+
 /* Maximum GSO packet size (64k) plus plenty of room for
  * the ethernet and virtio_net headers
  */
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@ typedef struct TAPState {
     unsigned int has_vnet_hdr : 1;
     unsigned int using_vnet_hdr : 1;
     unsigned int has_ufo: 1;
+    VHostNetState *vhost_net;
 } TAPState;
 
 static int launch_script(const char *setup_script, const char *ifname, int fd);
@@ -253,6 +256,10 @@ static void tap_cleanup(VLANClientState *nc)
 {
     TAPState *s = DO_UPCAST(TAPState, nc, nc);
 
+    if (s->vhost_net) {
+        vhost_net_cleanup(s->vhost_net);
+    }
+
     qemu_purge_queued_packets(nc);
 
     if (s->down_script[0])
@@ -308,6 +315,7 @@ static TAPState *net_tap_fd_init(VLANState *vlan,
     s->has_ufo = tap_probe_has_ufo(s->fd);
     tap_set_offload(&s->nc, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);
     tap_read_poll(s, 1);
+    s->vhost_net = NULL;
     return s;
 }
 
@@ -457,5 +465,26 @@ int net_init_tap(QemuOpts *opts, Monitor *mon, const char *name, VLANState *vlan
         }
     }
 
+    if (qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "vhost", !!qemu_opt_get(opts, "vhostfd"))) {
+        int vhostfd, r;
+        if (qemu_opt_get(opts, "vhostfd")) {
+            r = net_handle_fd_param(mon, qemu_opt_get(opts, "vhostfd"));
+            if (r == -1) {
+                return -1;
+            }
+            vhostfd = r;
+        } else {
+            vhostfd = -1;
+        }
+        s->vhost_net = vhost_net_init(&s->nc, vhostfd);
+        if (!s->vhost_net) {
+            error_report("vhost-net requested but could not be initialized");
+            return -1;
+        }
+    } else if (qemu_opt_get(opts, "vhostfd")) {
+        error_report("vhostfd= is not valid without vhost");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 719cbda83c..f4b3bfe90f 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -892,7 +892,7 @@ DEF("net", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_net,
     "-net tap[,vlan=n][,name=str],ifname=name\n"
     "                connect the host TAP network interface to VLAN 'n'\n"
 #else
-    "-net tap[,vlan=n][,name=str][,fd=h][,ifname=name][,script=file][,downscript=dfile][,sndbuf=nbytes][,vnet_hdr=on|off]\n"
+    "-net tap[,vlan=n][,name=str][,fd=h][,ifname=name][,script=file][,downscript=dfile][,sndbuf=nbytes][,vnet_hdr=on|off][,vhost=on|off][,vhostfd=h]\n"
     "                connect the host TAP network interface to VLAN 'n' and use the\n"
     "                network scripts 'file' (default=" DEFAULT_NETWORK_SCRIPT ")\n"
     "                and 'dfile' (default=" DEFAULT_NETWORK_DOWN_SCRIPT ")\n"
@@ -902,6 +902,8 @@ DEF("net", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_net,
     "                default of 'sndbuf=1048576' can be disabled using 'sndbuf=0')\n"
     "                use vnet_hdr=off to avoid enabling the IFF_VNET_HDR tap flag\n"
     "                use vnet_hdr=on to make the lack of IFF_VNET_HDR support an error condition\n"
+    "                use vhost=on to enable experimental in kernel accelerator\n"
+    "                use 'vhostfd=h' to connect to an already opened vhost net device\n"
 #endif
     "-net socket[,vlan=n][,name=str][,fd=h][,listen=[host]:port][,connect=host:port]\n"
     "                connect the vlan 'n' to another VLAN using a socket connection\n"