diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b7be213a..efe17e9f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,11 +36,26 @@ Settings:
 * SKIPVERIFY:      false or 0, true or 1 // will skip hostname/certificate check at all
 * INCLUDE_QUEUES:  ".*", // regex, matching queue names are exported
 * SKIP_QUEUES:     "^$", // regex, matching queue names are not exported (useful for short-lived rpc queues). First performed INCLUDE, after SKIP
+* RABBIT_CAPABILITIES: "", // comma-separated list of extended scraping capabilities supported by the target RabbitMQ server
 
 Example
 
     OUTPUT_FORMAT=JSON PUBLISH_PORT=9099 ./rabbitmq_exporter
 
+#### Extended RabbitMQ capabilities
+
+Newer version of RabbitMQ can provide some features that reduce
+overhead imposed by scraping the data needed by this exporter. The
+following capabilities are currently supported in
+`RABBIT_CAPABILITIES` env var:
+
+* `no_sort`: By default RabbitMQ management plugin sorts results using
+  the default sort order of vhost/name. This sorting overhead can be
+  avoided by passing empty sort argument (`?sort=`) to RabbitMQ
+  starting from version 3.6.8. This option can be safely enabled on
+  earlier 3.6.X versions, but it'll not give any performance
+  improvements. And it's incompatible with 3.4.X and 3.5.X.
+
 ### Metrics
 
 All metrics (except golang/prometheus metrics) are prefixed with "rabbitmq_".
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index be0e8f4f..6809c8ff 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ var (
 		InsecureSkipVerify: false,
 		SkipQueues:         "^$",
 		IncludeQueues:      ".*",
+		RabbitCapabilities: make(rabbitCapabilitySet),
 	}
 )
 
@@ -32,6 +33,18 @@ type rabbitExporterConfig struct {
 	InsecureSkipVerify bool
 	SkipQueues         string
 	IncludeQueues      string
+	RabbitCapabilities rabbitCapabilitySet
+}
+
+type rabbitCapability string
+type rabbitCapabilitySet map[rabbitCapability]bool
+
+const (
+	rabbitCapNoSort rabbitCapability = "no_sort"
+)
+
+var allRabbitCapabilities = rabbitCapabilitySet{
+	rabbitCapNoSort: true,
 }
 
 func initConfig() {
@@ -75,4 +88,21 @@ func initConfig() {
 	if IncludeQueues := os.Getenv("INCLUDE_QUEUES"); IncludeQueues != "" {
 		config.IncludeQueues = IncludeQueues
 	}
+
+	if rawCapabilities := os.Getenv("RABBIT_CAPABILITIES"); rawCapabilities != "" {
+		config.RabbitCapabilities = parseCapabilities(rawCapabilities)
+	}
+}
+
+func parseCapabilities(raw string) rabbitCapabilitySet {
+	result := make(rabbitCapabilitySet)
+	candidates := strings.Split(raw, ",")
+	for _, maybeCapStr := range candidates {
+		maybeCap := rabbitCapability(strings.TrimSpace(maybeCapStr))
+		enabled, present := allRabbitCapabilities[maybeCap]
+		if enabled && present {
+			result[maybeCap] = true
+		}
+	}
+	return result
 }
diff --git a/config_test.go b/config_test.go
index 27738014..6a4970b0 100644
--- a/config_test.go
+++ b/config_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"os"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -84,3 +85,23 @@ func TestConfig_Http_URL(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Invalid URL. It should start with http(s)://. expected=%v,got=%v", url, config.RabbitURL)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestConfig_Capabilities(t *testing.T) {
+	defer os.Unsetenv("RABBIT_CAPABILITIES")
+
+	os.Unsetenv("RABBIT_CAPABILITIES")
+	initConfig()
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(config.RabbitCapabilities, make(rabbitCapabilitySet)) {
+		t.Error("Capability set should be empty by default")
+	}
+
+	var needToSupport = []rabbitCapability{"no_sort"}
+	for _, cap := range needToSupport {
+		os.Setenv("RABBIT_CAPABILITIES", "junk_cap, another_with_spaces_around ,  "+string(cap)+", done")
+		initConfig()
+		expected := rabbitCapabilitySet{cap: true}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(config.RabbitCapabilities, expected) {
+			t.Errorf("Capability '%s' wasn't properly detected from env", cap)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/rabbitClient.go b/rabbitClient.go
index 071945e3..896ae1fe 100644
--- a/rabbitClient.go
+++ b/rabbitClient.go
@@ -41,7 +41,13 @@ func initClient() {
 }
 
 func loadMetrics(config rabbitExporterConfig, endpoint string) (*json.Decoder, error) {
-	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", config.RabbitURL+"/api/"+endpoint, nil)
+	var args string
+	enabled, exists := config.RabbitCapabilities[rabbitCapNoSort]
+	if enabled && exists {
+		args = "?sort="
+	}
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", config.RabbitURL+"/api/"+endpoint+args, nil)
 	req.SetBasicAuth(config.RabbitUsername, config.RabbitPassword)
 
 	resp, err := client.Do(req)
diff --git a/rabbitClient_test.go b/rabbitClient_test.go
index 3b6d570a..26c82631 100644
--- a/rabbitClient_test.go
+++ b/rabbitClient_test.go
@@ -129,3 +129,35 @@ func TestExchanges(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	expect(t, len(exchanges), 0)
 }
+
+func TestNoSort(t *testing.T) {
+	assertNoSortRespected(t, false)
+	assertNoSortRespected(t, true)
+}
+
+func assertNoSortRespected(t *testing.T, enabled bool) {
+	var args string
+	if enabled {
+		args = "?sort="
+	}
+
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		if r.RequestURI == "/api/overview"+args {
+			fmt.Fprintln(w, `{"nonFloat":"bob@example.com","float1":1.23456789101112,"number":2}`)
+		} else {
+			t.Errorf("Invalid request with enabled=%s. URI=%v", enabled, r.RequestURI)
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Invalid request. URI=%v", r.RequestURI)
+		}
+
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+
+	config := &rabbitExporterConfig{
+		RabbitURL:          server.URL,
+		RabbitCapabilities: rabbitCapabilitySet{rabbitCapNoSort: enabled},
+	}
+
+	getMetricMap(*config, "overview")
+}