diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fedfd1e0..434baa20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -181,3 +181,18 @@ write_to_textfile('/configured/textfile/path/raid.prom', registry)
 ```
 
 A separate registry is used, as the default registry may contain other metrics.
+
+## Exporting to a Pushgateway
+
+The [Pushgateway](https://github.com/prometheus/pushgateway)
+allows ephemeral and batch jobs to expose their metrics to Prometheus.
+
+```python
+from prometheus_client import CollectorRegistry,Gauge,push_to_gateway
+registry = CollectorRegistry()
+g = Gauge('job_finished_ok_at', 'last time a batch job successfully finished', registry=registry)
+g.set_to_current_time()
+push_to_gateway(registry, job='batchA', host='pushgateway.mydomain')
+```
+
+A separate registry is used, as the default registry may contain other metrics.
diff --git a/prometheus_client/__init__.py b/prometheus_client/__init__.py
index 04075779..65bb7324 100644
--- a/prometheus_client/__init__.py
+++ b/prometheus_client/__init__.py
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@
 import os
 import time
 import threading
+
+try:
+    from urllib2 import urlopen, quote
+except ImportError:
+    # Python 3
+    from urllib.request import urlopen
+    from urllib.parse import quote
+
 try:
     from BaseHTTPServer import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
 except ImportError:
@@ -15,6 +23,7 @@
 from functools import wraps
 from threading import Lock
 
+
 __all__ = ['Counter', 'Gauge', 'Summary', 'Histogram']
 
 _METRIC_NAME_RE = re.compile(r'^[a-zA-Z_:][a-zA-Z0-9_:]*$')
@@ -434,6 +443,38 @@ def do_GET(self):
         self.wfile.write(generate_latest(REGISTRY))
 
 
+def build_pushgateway_url(job, instance=None, host='localhost', port=9091):
+    '''
+    Build a valid pushgateway url
+    '''
+
+    if instance:
+        instancestr = '/instances/{}'.format(instance)
+    else:
+        instancestr = ''
+
+    url = 'http://{}:{}/metrics/jobs/{}{}'.format(host, port,
+                                                  quote(job),
+                                                  quote(instancestr))
+    return url
+
+
+def push_to_gateway_url(url, registry, timeout=None):
+    '''Push metrics to the given url'''
+
+    resp = urlopen(url, data=generate_latest(registry), timeout=timeout)
+    if resp.code >= 400:
+        raise IOError("error pushing to pushgateway: {0} {1}".format(
+            resp.code, resp.msg))
+
+
+def push_to_gateway(registry, job, instance=None, host='localhost', port=9091, timeout=None):
+    '''Push metrics to a pushgateway'''
+
+    url = build_pushgateway_url(job, instance, host, port)
+    push_to_gateway_url(url, registry, timeout)
+
+
 def write_to_textfile(path, registry):
     '''Write metrics to the given path.
 
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index a28f3f4a..049729b8 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 from prometheus_client import Gauge, Counter, Summary, Histogram
 from prometheus_client import CollectorRegistry, generate_latest
+from prometheus_client import build_pushgateway_url
 
 
 class TestCounter(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -266,5 +267,26 @@ def test_escaping(self):
         self.assertEqual(b'# HELP cc A\\ncount\\\\er\n# TYPE cc counter\ncc{a="\\\\x\\n\\""} 1.0\n', generate_latest(self.registry))
 
 
+class TestBuildPushgatewayUrl(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_job_instance(self):
+        expected = 'http://localhost:9091/metrics/jobs/foojob/instances/fooinstance'
+
+        url = build_pushgateway_url('foojob', 'fooinstance')
+        self.assertEqual(url, expected)
+
+    def test_host_port(self):
+        expected = 'http://foohost:9092/metrics/jobs/foojob'
+
+        url = build_pushgateway_url('foojob', host='foohost', port=9092)
+        self.assertEqual(url, expected)
+
+    def test_url_escaping(self):
+        expected = 'http://localhost:9091/metrics/jobs/foo%20job'
+
+        url = build_pushgateway_url('foo job')
+        self.assertEqual(url, expected)
+
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()