diff --git a/cmd/main.go b/cmd/main.go
index cba9fdfff..1b320b064 100644
--- a/cmd/main.go
+++ b/cmd/main.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ package cmd
 import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
 	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/minio/cli"
@@ -68,6 +69,11 @@ var GlobalFlags = []cli.Flag{
 	},
 }
 
+var versionFlag = cli.BoolFlag{
+	Name:  "version, v",
+	Usage: "print version information",
+}
+
 // Help template for minio.
 var minioHelpTemplate = `NAME:
   {{.Name}} - {{.Usage}}
@@ -132,14 +138,19 @@ func newApp(name string) *cli.App {
 		Usage: "show help",
 	}
 
+	topLevelFlags := make([]cli.Flag, len(GlobalFlags)+1)
+	copy(topLevelFlags, GlobalFlags)
+	topLevelFlags[len(GlobalFlags)] = versionFlag
+
 	app := cli.NewApp()
 	app.Name = name
 	app.Author = "MinIO, Inc."
-	app.Version = ReleaseTag
+	app.Action = versionAndHelpAction
 	app.Usage = "High Performance Object Storage"
 	app.Description = `Build high performance data infrastructure for machine learning, analytics and application data workloads with MinIO`
-	app.Flags = GlobalFlags
+	app.Flags = topLevelFlags
 	app.HideHelpCommand = true // Hide `help, h` command, we already have `minio --help`.
+	app.HideVersion = true
 	app.Commands = commands
 	app.CustomAppHelpTemplate = minioHelpTemplate
 	app.CommandNotFound = func(ctx *cli.Context, command string) {
@@ -159,6 +170,18 @@ func newApp(name string) *cli.App {
 	return app
 }
 
+func versionAndHelpAction(ctx *cli.Context) {
+	if ctx.IsSet("version") {
+		console.Printf("%s version %s\n", ctx.App.Name, ReleaseTag)
+		console.Printf("commit: %s\n", CommitID)
+		console.Printf("go version: %s\n", runtime.Version())
+
+		return
+	}
+
+	cli.ShowAppHelpAndExit(ctx, 1)
+}
+
 // Main main for minio server.
 func Main(args []string) {
 	// Set the minio app name.