diff --git a/conn.go b/conn.go
index d79a4e97..6078cca2 100644
--- a/conn.go
+++ b/conn.go
@@ -550,6 +550,15 @@ func ParseDSN(s string) (ConnConfig, error) {
 	return cp, nil
 }
 
+// ParseConnectionString parses either a URI or a DSN connection string.
+// see ParseURI and ParseDSN for details.
+func ParseConnectionString(s string) (ConnConfig, error) {
+	if strings.HasPrefix(s, "postgres://") || strings.HasPrefix(s, "postgresql://") {
+		return ParseURI(s)
+	}
+	return ParseDSN(s)
+}
+
 // ParseEnvLibpq parses the environment like libpq does into a ConnConfig
 //
 // See http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/libpq-envars.html for details
diff --git a/conn_test.go b/conn_test.go
index 4550e63a..50ea68f6 100644
--- a/conn_test.go
+++ b/conn_test.go
@@ -530,6 +530,225 @@ func TestParseDSN(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestParseConnectionString(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		url        string
+		connParams pgx.ConnConfig
+	}{
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack:secret@localhost:5432/mydb?sslmode=prefer",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Password: "secret",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack:secret@localhost:5432/mydb?sslmode=disable",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:              "jack",
+				Password:          "secret",
+				Host:              "localhost",
+				Port:              5432,
+				Database:          "mydb",
+				TLSConfig:         nil,
+				UseFallbackTLS:    false,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack:secret@localhost:5432/mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Password: "secret",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgresql://jack:secret@localhost:5432/mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Password: "secret",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack@localhost:5432/mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack@localhost/mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "postgres://jack@localhost/mydb?application_name=pgxtest&search_path=myschema",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams: map[string]string{
+					"application_name": "pgxtest",
+					"search_path":      "myschema",
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack password=secret host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb sslmode=disable",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:          "jack",
+				Password:      "secret",
+				Host:          "localhost",
+				Port:          5432,
+				Database:      "mydb",
+				RuntimeParams: map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack password=secret host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb sslmode=prefer",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Password: "secret",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack password=secret host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Password: "secret",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Port:     5432,
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack host=localhost dbname=mydb",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams:     map[string]string{},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			url: "user=jack host=localhost dbname=mydb application_name=pgxtest search_path=myschema",
+			connParams: pgx.ConnConfig{
+				User:     "jack",
+				Host:     "localhost",
+				Database: "mydb",
+				TLSConfig: &tls.Config{
+					InsecureSkipVerify: true,
+				},
+				UseFallbackTLS:    true,
+				FallbackTLSConfig: nil,
+				RuntimeParams: map[string]string{
+					"application_name": "pgxtest",
+					"search_path":      "myschema",
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, tt := range tests {
+		connParams, err := pgx.ParseConnectionString(tt.url)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("%d. Unexpected error from pgx.ParseDSN(%q) => %v", i, tt.url, err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(connParams, tt.connParams) {
+			t.Errorf("%d. expected %#v got %#v", i, tt.connParams, connParams)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestParseEnvLibpq(t *testing.T) {
 	pgEnvvars := []string{"PGHOST", "PGPORT", "PGDATABASE", "PGUSER", "PGPASSWORD", "PGAPPNAME", "PGSSLMODE"}
 
diff --git a/stdlib/sql.go b/stdlib/sql.go
index e3d46cab..000f0fbf 100644
--- a/stdlib/sql.go
+++ b/stdlib/sql.go
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@
 //		return err
 //	}
 //
+// Or from a DSN string.
+//
+//	db, err := sql.Open("pgx", "user=postgres password=secret host=localhost port=5432 database=pgx_test sslmode=disable")
+//	if err != nil {
+//		return err
+//	}
+//
 // Or a normal pgx connection pool can be established and the database/sql
 // connection can be created through stdlib.OpenFromConnPool(). This allows
 // more control over the connection process (such as TLS), more control
@@ -99,7 +106,7 @@ func (d *Driver) Open(name string) (driver.Conn, error) {
 		return &Conn{conn: conn, pool: d.Pool}, nil
 	}
 
-	connConfig, err := pgx.ParseURI(name)
+	connConfig, err := pgx.ParseConnectionString(name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}