diff --git a/src/helper.js b/src/helper.js
index c12fde10..27352b53 100644
--- a/src/helper.js
+++ b/src/helper.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ const Helper = {
 	getDefaultNick,
 	parseHostmask,
 	compareHostmask,
+	compareWithWildcard,
 
 	password: {
 		hash: passwordHash,
@@ -314,8 +315,27 @@ function parseHostmask(hostmask) {
 
 function compareHostmask(a, b) {
 	return (
-		(a.nick.toLowerCase() === b.nick.toLowerCase() || a.nick === "*") &&
-		(a.ident.toLowerCase() === b.ident.toLowerCase() || a.ident === "*") &&
-		(a.hostname.toLowerCase() === b.hostname.toLowerCase() || a.hostname === "*")
+		compareWithWildcard(a.nick, b.nick) &&
+		compareWithWildcard(a.ident, b.ident) &&
+		compareWithWildcard(a.hostname, b.hostname)
 	);
 }
+
+function compareWithWildcard(a, b) {
+	// we allow '*' and '?' wildcards in our comparison.
+	// this is mostly aligned with https://modern.ircdocs.horse/#wildcard-expressions
+	// but we do not support the escaping. The ABNF does not seem to be clear as to
+	// how to escape the escape char '\', which is valid in a nick,
+	// whereas the wildcards tend not to be (as per RFC1459).
+
+	// The "*" wildcard is ".*" in regex, "?" is "."
+	// so we tokenize and join with the proper char back together,
+	// escaping any other regex modifier
+	const wildmany_split = a.split("*").map((sub) => {
+		const wildone_split = sub.split("?").map((p) => _.escapeRegExp(p));
+		return wildone_split.join(".");
+	});
+	const user_regex = wildmany_split.join(".*");
+	const re = new RegExp(`^${user_regex}$`, "i"); // case insensitive
+	return re.test(b);
+}
diff --git a/test/tests/hostmask.js b/test/tests/hostmask.js
index 406238c2..b1e84c5e 100644
--- a/test/tests/hostmask.js
+++ b/test/tests/hostmask.js
@@ -48,7 +48,14 @@ describe("Hostmask", function () {
 
 	it(".compareHostmask (wildcard)", function () {
 		const a = Helper.parseHostmask("nick!user@host");
-		const b = Helper.parseHostmask("nick!*@*");
+		const b = Helper.parseHostmask("n?ck!*@*");
+		expect(Helper.compareHostmask(b, a)).to.be.true;
+		expect(Helper.compareHostmask(a, b)).to.be.false;
+	});
+
+	it(".compareHostmask (wildcard - partial)", function () {
+		const a = Helper.parseHostmask("nicky!user@host");
+		const b = Helper.parseHostmask("nick*!*e?@?os*");
 		expect(Helper.compareHostmask(b, a)).to.be.true;
 		expect(Helper.compareHostmask(a, b)).to.be.false;
 	});
@@ -60,3 +67,47 @@ describe("Hostmask", function () {
 		expect(Helper.compareHostmask(a, b)).to.be.true;
 	});
 });
+
+describe("compareWithWildcard", function () {
+	const goodPairs = [
+		["asdf", "asdf"],
+		["AsDf", "asdf"],
+		["a?df*", "asdf"],
+		["*asdf*", "asdf"],
+		["*asdf", "asdf"],
+		["asd?", "asdf"],
+		["asd?*", "asdf"],
+		["a??f", "asdf"],
+		["a*", "asdf"],
+		["*f", "asdf"],
+		["*s*", "asdf"],
+		["*", ""],
+		["**", ""],
+	];
+
+	for (const t of goodPairs) {
+		it(`("${t[0]}", "${t[1]}")`, function () {
+			expect(Helper.compareWithWildcard(t[0], t[1])).to.be.true;
+		});
+	}
+
+	const badPairs = [
+		["asdf", "fdsa"],
+		["a?df*", "adfg"],
+		["?", ""],
+		["?asdf", "asdf"],
+		["?*", ""],
+		["*?*", ""],
+		["*?", ""],
+		["asd", "asdf"],
+		["sdf", "asdf"],
+		["sd", "asdf"],
+		["", "asdf"],
+	];
+
+	for (const t of badPairs) {
+		it(`("${t[0]}", "${t[1]}")`, function () {
+			expect(Helper.compareWithWildcard(t[0], t[1])).to.be.false;
+		});
+	}
+});