diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index f129378..da6ba39 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -126,10 +126,15 @@ branch
   Which branch to track? Default: ``master``.
 
 use_latest_release
-  Set this to ``true`` to check for the latest relase on GitHub. An annotated
+  Set this to ``true`` to check for the latest release on GitHub. An annotated
   tag creates a "release" on GitHub. It's not the same with git tags, which
   includes both annotated tags and lightweight ones.
 
+use_max_tag
+  Set this to ``true`` to check for the max tag on GitHub. Unlike ``use_latest_release``,
+  this option includes both annotated tags and lightweight ones, and return the biggest one
+  sorted by ``pkg_resources.parse_version``.
+
 An environment variable ``NVCHECKER_GITHUB_TOKEN`` can be set to a GitHub OAuth token in order to request more frequently than anonymously.
 
 Check BitBucket
diff --git a/nvchecker/source/github.py b/nvchecker/source/github.py
index 7ed254c..7665cbc 100644
--- a/nvchecker/source/github.py
+++ b/nvchecker/source/github.py
@@ -2,17 +2,22 @@ import os
 import json
 from functools import partial
 
+from pkg_resources import parse_version
 from tornado.httpclient import AsyncHTTPClient, HTTPRequest
 
 GITHUB_URL = 'https://api.github.com/repos/%s/commits?sha=%s'
 GITHUB_LATEST_RELEASE = 'https://api.github.com/repos/%s/releases/latest'
+GITHUB_MAX_TAG = 'https://api.github.com/repos/%s/tags'
 
 def get_version(name, conf, callback):
   repo = conf.get('github')
   br = conf.get('branch', 'master')
   use_latest_release = conf.getboolean('use_latest_release', False)
+  use_max_tag = conf.getboolean('use_max_tag', False)
   if use_latest_release:
       url = GITHUB_LATEST_RELEASE % repo
+  elif use_max_tag:
+      url = GITHUB_MAX_TAG % repo
   else:
       url = GITHUB_URL % (repo, br)
   headers = {'Accept': "application/vnd.github.quicksilver-preview+json"}
@@ -20,12 +25,15 @@ def get_version(name, conf, callback):
       headers['Authorization'] = 'token %s' % os.environ['NVCHECKER_GITHUB_TOKEN']
   request = HTTPRequest(url, headers=headers, user_agent='lilydjwg/nvchecker')
   AsyncHTTPClient().fetch(request,
-                          callback=partial(_github_done, name, use_latest_release, callback))
+                          callback=partial(_github_done, name, use_latest_release, use_max_tag, callback))
 
-def _github_done(name, use_latest_release, callback, res):
+def _github_done(name, use_latest_release, use_max_tag, callback, res):
   data = json.loads(res.body.decode('utf-8'))
   if use_latest_release:
       version = data['tag_name']
+  elif use_max_tag:
+      data.sort(key=lambda tag: parse_version(tag["name"]))
+      version = data[-1]["name"]
   else:
       version = data[0]['commit']['committer']['date'].split('T', 1)[0].replace('-', '')
   callback(name, version)
diff --git a/tests/test_github.py b/tests/test_github.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..160bed6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_github.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+from tests.helper import ExternalVersionTestCase
+
+
+class GitHubTest(ExternalVersionTestCase):
+    def test_github(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.sync_get_version("example", {"github": "harry-sanabria/ReleaseTestRepo"}), "20140122")
+
+    def test_github_latest_release(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.sync_get_version("example", {"github": "harry-sanabria/ReleaseTestRepo", "use_latest_release": 1}), "release3")
+
+    def test_github_max_tag(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.sync_get_version("example", {"github": "harry-sanabria/ReleaseTestRepo", "use_max_tag": 1}), "second_release")