diff --git a/src/main/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptions.java b/src/main/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptions.java
index cd857ed71..c880e87ae 100644
--- a/src/main/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptions.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2016-2019 Talsma ICT
+ * Copyright 2016-2020 Talsma ICT
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 import jdk.javadoc.doclet.Doclet;
 import jdk.javadoc.doclet.Doclet.Option.Kind;
+import net.sourceforge.plantuml.OptionFlags;
 import nl.talsmasoftware.umldoclet.UMLDoclet;
 
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ private UMLOptions(DocletConfig config, Set<Doclet.Option> standardOptions) {
                 (args) -> config.failOnCyclicPackageDependencies = asBoolean(args.get(0))));
         this.options.add(new Option("--uml-java-bean-properties-as-fields -umlJavaBeanPropertiesAsFields", 0, Kind.STANDARD,
                 (args) -> config.methodConfig.javaBeanPropertiesAsFields = true));
+        this.options.add(new Option("--uml-timeout -umlTimeout", 1, Kind.STANDARD, this::setTimeout));
     }
 
     Set<Doclet.Option> mergeWith(final Set<Doclet.Option> standardOptions) {
@@ -116,6 +118,15 @@ private static boolean asBoolean(String value) {
         return "true".equalsIgnoreCase(value);
     }
 
+    private void setTimeout(List<String> timeout) {
+        try {
+            int timeoutSeconds = Integer.parseInt(timeout.get(0));
+            OptionFlags.getInstance().setTimeoutMs(1000L * timeoutSeconds);
+        } catch (RuntimeException rte) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unrecognized timeout value: seconds expected, received: " + timeout, rte);
+        }
+    }
+
     private class Option implements Doclet.Option {
         private static final String MISSING_KEY = "<MISSING KEY>";
         private final Consumer<List<String>> processor;
diff --git a/src/main/resources/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/UMLDoclet.properties b/src/main/resources/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/UMLDoclet.properties
index 2471aeef0..c84bc4f9e 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/UMLDoclet.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/UMLDoclet.properties
@@ -39,3 +39,5 @@ doclet.usage.uml-excluded-package-dependencies.parameters=<package>(,<package>)*
 doclet.usage.fail-on-cyclic-package-dependencies.description=Fail on cyclic package dependencies (defaults to false)
 doclet.usage.fail-on-cyclic-package-dependencies.parameters=(true|false)
 doclet.usage.uml-java-bean-properties-as-fields.description=To render JavaBean getters and setters as fields in UML
+doclet.usage.uml-timeout.description=Set a timeout for PlantUML diagram rendering (defaults to '900' / 15 minutes)
+doclet.usage.uml-timeout.parameters=<seconds>
diff --git a/src/test/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptionsTest.java b/src/test/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptionsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..99467a861
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/nl/talsmasoftware/umldoclet/javadoc/UMLOptionsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016-2020 Talsma ICT
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package nl.talsmasoftware.umldoclet.javadoc;
+
+import jdk.javadoc.doclet.Doclet;
+import net.sourceforge.plantuml.OptionFlags;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.opentest4j.AssertionFailedError;
+
+import static java.util.Collections.emptySet;
+import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
+
+public class UMLOptionsTest {
+    private DocletConfig config;
+    private UMLOptions umlOptions;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void setUpUmlOptions() {
+        config = new DocletConfig();
+        umlOptions = new UMLOptions(config);
+    }
+
+    private Doclet.Option docletOption(String name) {
+        return umlOptions.mergeWith(emptySet())
+                .stream()
+                .filter(o -> o.getNames().contains(name))
+                .findFirst()
+                .orElseThrow(() -> new AssertionFailedError("Doclet option " + name + " not found!"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testUmlTimeoutOption() {
+        // prepare
+        Doclet.Option umlTimeoutOption = docletOption("--uml-timeout");
+
+        // execute
+        umlTimeoutOption.process("--uml-timeout", singletonList("1800"));
+
+        // verify
+        assertThat(OptionFlags.getInstance().getTimeoutMs(), is(1000L * 1800));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testIllegalUmlTimeoutOption() {
+        // prepare
+        Doclet.Option umlTimeoutOption = docletOption("--uml-timeout");
+
+        // execute
+        IllegalArgumentException expected = assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () ->
+                umlTimeoutOption.process("--uml-timeout", singletonList("30 minutes")));
+
+        // verify
+        assertThat(expected.getMessage(), containsString("timeout value"));
+    }
+}