diff --git a/docs/Configuration.md b/docs/Configuration.md
index 953440dc1..50a68fe67 100644
--- a/docs/Configuration.md
+++ b/docs/Configuration.md
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ configuration variables
 * `SCCACHE_CONF` configuration file path
 * `SCCACHE_CACHED_CONF`
 * `SCCACHE_IDLE_TIMEOUT` how long the local daemon process waits for more client requests before exiting, in seconds. Set to `0` to run sccache permanently
+* `SCCACHE_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT` how long clients should try to connect to the server before continuing, in seconds.
 * `SCCACHE_STARTUP_NOTIFY` specify a path to a socket which will be used for server completion notification
 * `SCCACHE_MAX_FRAME_LENGTH` how much data can be transferred between client and server
 * `SCCACHE_NO_DAEMON` set to `1` to disable putting the server to the background
diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index 51a6a1fe3..f131a695f 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ use byteorder::{BigEndian, ByteOrder};
 use retry::{delay::Fixed, retry};
 use std::io::{self, BufReader, BufWriter, Read};
 use std::net::TcpStream;
+use std::time::Duration;
+use std::{env, net::ToSocketAddrs};
+
+const DEFAULT_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT: u64 = 20;
+
+/// Get the time clients should try to connect to the server before continuing, in seconds.
+pub(crate) fn get_connection_timeout() -> u64 {
+    env::var("SCCACHE_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+        .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT)
+}
 
 /// A connection to an sccache server.
 pub struct ServerConnection {
@@ -65,7 +77,10 @@ impl ServerConnection {
 /// Establish a TCP connection to an sccache server listening on `port`.
 pub fn connect_to_server(port: u16) -> io::Result<ServerConnection> {
     trace!("connect_to_server({})", port);
-    let stream = TcpStream::connect(("127.0.0.1", port))?;
+    let stream = TcpStream::connect_timeout(
+        &("127.0.0.1", port).to_socket_addrs()?.next().unwrap(),
+        Duration::from_secs(get_connection_timeout()),
+    )?;
     ServerConnection::new(stream)
 }
 
diff --git a/src/dist/client_auth.rs b/src/dist/client_auth.rs
index 5555411c0..2aa267c44 100644
--- a/src/dist/client_auth.rs
+++ b/src/dist/client_auth.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ use tokio::runtime::Runtime;
 use url::Url;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
-use crate::errors::*;
+use crate::{client::get_connection_timeout, errors::*};
 
 // These (arbitrary) ports need to be registered as valid redirect urls in the oauth provider you're using
 pub const VALID_PORTS: &[u16] = &[12731, 32492, 56909];
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ async fn try_bind() -> Result<HyperBuilderWrap> {
             .expect("Expected at least one address in parsed socket address");
 
         // Hyper binds with reuseaddr and reuseport so binding won't fail as you'd expect on Linux
-        match TcpStream::connect(addr) {
+        match TcpStream::connect_timeout(&addr, Duration::from_secs(get_connection_timeout())) {
             // Already open
             Ok(_) => continue,
             // Doesn't seem to be open