diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 27db7a7f8..6e9e5e0bc 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -147,30 +147,6 @@ version = "1.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "baf1de4339761588bc0619e3cbc0120ee582ebb74b53b4efbf79117bd2da40fd"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "clap"
-version = "4.0.32"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a7db700bc935f9e43e88d00b0850dae18a63773cfbec6d8e070fccf7fef89a39"
-dependencies = [
- "bitflags",
- "clap_lex",
- "is-terminal",
- "once_cell",
- "strsim",
- "termcolor",
- "terminal_size",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "clap_lex"
-version = "0.3.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0d4198f73e42b4936b35b5bb248d81d2b595ecb170da0bac7655c54eedfa8da8"
-dependencies = [
- "os_str_bytes",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "cloud-hypervisor"
 version = "29.0.0"
@@ -729,12 +705,6 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "option_parser"
 version = "0.1.0"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "os_str_bytes"
-version = "6.4.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9b7820b9daea5457c9f21c69448905d723fbd21136ccf521748f23fd49e723ee"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "parking_lot"
 version = "0.11.2"
@@ -1216,16 +1186,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi-util",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "terminal_size"
-version = "0.2.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "cb20089a8ba2b69debd491f8d2d023761cbf196e999218c591fa1e7e15a21907"
-dependencies = [
- "rustix",
- "windows-sys",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "test_infra"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -1437,7 +1397,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "vhost_user_net"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
- "clap",
+ "argh",
  "env_logger",
  "epoll",
  "libc",
diff --git a/vhost_user_net/Cargo.toml b/vhost_user_net/Cargo.toml
index da06dd84f..2d835ae48 100644
--- a/vhost_user_net/Cargo.toml
+++ b/vhost_user_net/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ authors = ["The Cloud Hypervisor Authors"]
 edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
-clap = { version = "4.0.32", features = ["wrap_help","cargo"] }
+argh = "0.1.9"
 env_logger = "0.10.0"
 epoll = "4.3.1"
 libc = "0.2.139"
diff --git a/vhost_user_net/src/main.rs b/vhost_user_net/src/main.rs
index f9dc813e4..e7bc81336 100644
--- a/vhost_user_net/src/main.rs
+++ b/vhost_user_net/src/main.rs
@@ -6,25 +6,22 @@
 //
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 AND BSD-3-Clause)
 
-use clap::{Arg, Command};
+use argh::FromArgs;
 use vhost_user_net::start_net_backend;
 
+#[derive(FromArgs)]
+/// Launch a vhost-user-net backend.
+struct TopLevel {
+    #[argh(option, long = "net-backend")]
+    /// vhost-user-net backend parameters
+    /// ip=<ip_addr>,mask=<net_mask>,socket=<socket_path>,client=on|off,num_queues=<number_of_queues>,queue_size=<size_of_each_queue>,tap=<if_name>
+    backend_command: String,
+}
+
 fn main() {
     env_logger::init();
 
-    let cmd_arguments = Command::new("vhost-user-net backend")
-        .version(env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"))
-        .author(env!("CARGO_PKG_AUTHORS"))
-        .about("Launch a vhost-user-net backend.")
-        .arg(
-            Arg::new("net-backend")
-                .long("net-backend")
-                .help(vhost_user_net::SYNTAX)
-                .num_args(1)
-                .required(true),
-        )
-        .get_matches();
+    let toplevel: TopLevel = argh::from_env();
 
-    let backend_command = cmd_arguments.get_one::<String>("net-backend").unwrap();
-    start_net_backend(backend_command);
+    start_net_backend(&toplevel.backend_command);
 }