diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 657c75838c..7395750dcc 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ exports.parseQuery = function (qs) {
     var key = pair.slice(0, i);
     var val = pair.slice(++i);
 
-    obj[key] = decodeURIComponent(val);
+    obj[key] = decodeURIComponent(val.replace(/\+/g, '%20'));
     return obj;
   }, {});
 };
diff --git a/test/utils.spec.js b/test/utils.spec.js
index ccfd861a78..4c5a9ca5c2 100644
--- a/test/utils.spec.js
+++ b/test/utils.spec.js
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ describe('utils', function () {
         r3: '^co.*'
       });
     });
+
+    it('should parse "+" as a space', function () {
+      parseQuery('?grep=foo+bar').should.eql({grep: 'foo bar'});
+    });
   });
 
   describe('.stackTraceFilter()', function () {