diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
index f6010ac68b..62c6c76f27 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
@@ -190,7 +190,9 @@ $ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...
 If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones advertised by the
 SMTP server and if it is supported by the utilized SASL library, the mechanism
 is used for authentication. If neither 'sendemail.smtpAuth' nor `--smtp-auth`
-is specified, all mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used.
+is specified, all mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used. The
+special value 'none' maybe specified to completely disable authentication
+independently of `--smtp-user`
 
 --smtp-pass[=<password>]::
 	Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no
@@ -204,6 +206,9 @@ or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
 specified (with `--smtp-pass` or `sendemail.smtpPass`), then
 a password is obtained using 'git-credential'.
 
+--no-smtp-auth::
+	Disable SMTP authentication. Short hand for `--smtp-auth=none`
+
 --smtp-server=<host>::
 	If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
 	`smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address).  Alternatively it can
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 58c6aa9d0e..dc7e738e9c 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -82,8 +82,11 @@ sub usage {
                                      Pass an empty string to disable certificate
                                      verification.
     --smtp-domain           <str>  * The domain name sent to HELO/EHLO handshake
-    --smtp-auth             <str>  * Space-separated list of allowed AUTH mechanisms.
+    --smtp-auth             <str>  * Space-separated list of allowed AUTH mechanisms, or
+                                     "none" to disable authentication.
                                      This setting forces to use one of the listed mechanisms.
+    --no-smtp-auth                   Disable SMTP authentication. Shorthand for
+                                     `--smtp-auth=none`
     --smtp-debug            <0|1>  * Disable, enable Net::SMTP debug.
 
     --batch-size            <int>  * send max <int> message per connection.
@@ -341,6 +344,7 @@ sub signal_handler {
 		    "smtp-debug:i" => \$debug_net_smtp,
 		    "smtp-domain:s" => \$smtp_domain,
 		    "smtp-auth=s" => \$smtp_auth,
+		    "no-smtp-auth" => sub {$smtp_auth = 'none'},
 		    "identity=s" => \$identity,
 		    "annotate!" => \$annotate,
 		    "no-annotate" => sub {$annotate = 0},
@@ -1241,7 +1245,7 @@ sub smtp_host_string {
 # (smtp_user was not specified), and 0 otherwise.
 
 sub smtp_auth_maybe {
-	if (!defined $smtp_authuser || $auth) {
+	if (!defined $smtp_authuser || $auth || (defined $smtp_auth && $smtp_auth eq "none")) {
 		return 1;
 	}