diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e6d5b01a..d422e46e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ pids/
 redis.pid
 test.log
 npm-debug.log
+coverage/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1d3c1cdd..e8177443 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ jshint:
 
 test-all: jshint test
 
+coverage:
+	@RUNTESTFLAGS=--with-coverage make test
+
 check: test
 
 .PHONY: pre-install test
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 44a6e6f4..a4398db9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
         "rollbar": "~0.3.13"
     },
     "devDependencies": {
+        "istanbul": "~0.3.6",
         "mocha": "~1.21.4",
         "jshint": "~2.6.0",
         "redis": "~0.8.6",
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
index 9790b7e6..e7ea3a2c 100755
--- a/run_tests.sh
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ OPT_CREATE_REDIS=yes # create the redis test environment
 OPT_CREATE_PGSQL=yes # create the PostgreSQL test environment
 OPT_DROP_REDIS=yes   # drop the redis test environment
 OPT_DROP_PGSQL=yes   # drop the PostgreSQL test environment
+OPT_COVERAGE=no      # run tests with coverage
 
 export PGAPPNAME=cartodb_tiler_tester
 
@@ -69,6 +70,10 @@ while [ -n "$1" ]; do
                 OPT_CREATE_REDIS=no
                 shift
                 continue
+        elif test "$1" = "--with-coverage"; then
+                OPT_COVERAGE=yes
+                shift
+                continue
         # This is kept for backward compatibility
         elif test "$1" = "--nocreate"; then
                 OPT_CREATE_REDIS=no
@@ -85,6 +90,7 @@ if [ -z "$1" ]; then
         echo "Options:" >&2
         echo " --nocreate   do not create the test environment on start" >&2
         echo " --nodrop     do not drop the test environment on exit" >&2
+        echo " --with-coverage   use istanbul to determine code coverage" >&2
         exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -112,8 +118,13 @@ cd -
 
 PATH=node_modules/.bin/:$PATH
 
-echo "Running tests"
-mocha -t 10000 -u tdd ${MOCHA_OPTS} ${TESTS}
+if test x"$OPT_COVERAGE" = xyes; then
+  echo "Running tests with coverage"
+  ./node_modules/.bin/istanbul cover node_modules/.bin/_mocha -- -u tdd -t 5000 ${TESTS}
+else
+  echo "Running tests"
+  mocha -u tdd -t 5000 ${TESTS}
+fi
 ret=$?
 
 cleanup