diff --git a/src/cli.rs b/src/cli.rs
index 5a31f9b..596b0c5 100644
--- a/src/cli.rs
+++ b/src/cli.rs
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@ fn build_command() -> Command<'static> {
         .about("A command-line benchmarking tool.")
         .arg(
             Arg::new("command")
-                .help("Command to benchmark. This can be the name of an executable or a shell \
-                       command like \"sleep 0.5 && echo test\". If multiple commands are given, \
-                       hyperfine will show a comparison of the respective runtimes.")
+                .help("The command to benchmark. This can be the name of an executable, a command \
+                       line like \"grep -i todo\" or a shell command like \"sleep 0.5 && echo test\". \
+                       The latter is only available if the shell is not explicitly disabled via \
+                       '--shell=none'. If multiple commands are given, hyperfine will show a \
+                       comparison of the respective runtimes.")
                 .required(true)
                 .multiple_occurrences(true)
                 .forbid_empty_values(true),
@@ -181,7 +183,19 @@ fn build_command() -> Command<'static> {
                 .takes_value(true)
                 .value_name("SHELL")
                 .overrides_with("shell")
-                .help("Set the shell to use for executing benchmarked commands."),
+                .help("Set the shell to use for executing benchmarked commands. This can be the \
+                       name or the path to the shell executable, or a full command line \
+                       like \"bash --norc\". It can also be set to \"default\" to explicitly select \
+                       the default shell on this patform. Finally, this can also be set to \
+                       \"none\" to disable the shell. In this case, commands will be executed \
+                       directly. They can still have arguments, but more complex things like \
+                       \"sleep 0.1; sleep 0.2\" are not possible without a shell.")
+        )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("no-shell")
+                .short('N')
+                .conflicts_with_all(&["shell", "debug-mode"])
+                .help("An alias for '--shell=none'.")
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new("ignore-failure")
diff --git a/src/options.rs b/src/options.rs
index 6a39900..bad0f37 100644
--- a/src/options.rs
+++ b/src/options.rs
@@ -282,13 +282,17 @@ impl Options {
             OutputStyleOption::Disabled => {}
         };
 
-        options.executor_kind = match (matches.is_present("debug-mode"), matches.value_of("shell"))
-        {
-            (false, Some(shell)) if shell == "default" => ExecutorKind::Shell(Shell::default()),
-            (false, Some(shell)) => ExecutorKind::Shell(Shell::parse_from_str(shell)?),
-            (false, None) => ExecutorKind::Raw,
-            (true, Some(shell)) => ExecutorKind::Mock(Some(shell.into())),
-            (true, None) => ExecutorKind::Mock(None),
+        options.executor_kind = if matches.is_present("no-shell") {
+            ExecutorKind::Raw
+        } else {
+            match (matches.is_present("debug-mode"), matches.value_of("shell")) {
+                (false, Some(shell)) if shell == "default" => ExecutorKind::Shell(Shell::default()),
+                (false, Some(shell)) if shell == "none" => ExecutorKind::Raw,
+                (false, Some(shell)) => ExecutorKind::Shell(Shell::parse_from_str(shell)?),
+                (false, None) => ExecutorKind::Shell(Shell::default()),
+                (true, Some(shell)) => ExecutorKind::Mock(Some(shell.into())),
+                (true, None) => ExecutorKind::Mock(None),
+            }
         };
 
         if matches.is_present("ignore-failure") {
diff --git a/tests/common.rs b/tests/common.rs
index 6a3d247..b740888 100644
--- a/tests/common.rs
+++ b/tests/common.rs
@@ -11,9 +11,3 @@ pub fn hyperfine_raw_command() -> Command {
 pub fn hyperfine() -> assert_cmd::Command {
     assert_cmd::Command::from_std(hyperfine_raw_command())
 }
-
-pub fn hyperfine_shell() -> assert_cmd::Command {
-    let mut cmd = hyperfine();
-    cmd.arg("--shell=default");
-    cmd
-}
diff --git a/tests/execution_order_tests.rs b/tests/execution_order_tests.rs
index f8c94f4..fbbfe4e 100644
--- a/tests/execution_order_tests.rs
+++ b/tests/execution_order_tests.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use std::{fs::File, io::Read, path::PathBuf};
 use tempfile::{tempdir, TempDir};
 
 mod common;
-use common::hyperfine_shell;
+use common::hyperfine;
 
 struct ExecutionOrderTest {
     cmd: assert_cmd::Command,
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ impl ExecutionOrderTest {
         let logfile_path = tempdir.path().join("output.log");
 
         ExecutionOrderTest {
-            cmd: hyperfine_shell(),
+            cmd: hyperfine(),
             expected_content: String::new(),
             logfile_path,
             tempdir,
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests.rs b/tests/integration_tests.rs
index 6ea3584..349dae6 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests.rs
+++ b/tests/integration_tests.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 mod common;
-use common::{hyperfine, hyperfine_shell};
+use common::hyperfine;
 
 use predicates::prelude::*;
 
@@ -86,19 +86,20 @@ fn fails_for_unknown_command() {
         .assert()
         .failure()
         .stderr(predicate::str::contains(
-            "Failed to run command 'some-nonexisting-program-b5d9574198b7e4b12a71fa4747c0a577'",
+            "Command terminated with non-zero exit code",
         ));
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn fails_for_unknown_shell_command() {
-    hyperfine_shell()
+fn fails_for_unknown_command_without_shell() {
+    hyperfine()
+        .arg("--shell=none")
         .arg("--runs=1")
         .arg("some-nonexisting-program-b5d9574198b7e4b12a71fa4747c0a577")
         .assert()
         .failure()
         .stderr(predicate::str::contains(
-            "Command terminated with non-zero exit code",
+            "Failed to run command 'some-nonexisting-program-b5d9574198b7e4b12a71fa4747c0a577'",
         ));
 }