diff --git a/gallery_dl/__init__.py b/gallery_dl/__init__.py
index e698de62..7fb9ba09 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/__init__.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/__init__.py
@@ -275,6 +275,8 @@ def main():
                 jobtype = job.KeywordJob
             elif args.list_data:
                 jobtype = job.DataJob
+            elif args.simulate:
+                jobtype = job.SimulationJob
             else:
                 jobtype = job.DownloadJob
 
diff --git a/gallery_dl/job.py b/gallery_dl/job.py
index 61755f3a..c89743ee 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/job.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/job.py
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ class DownloadJob(Job):
 
     def handle_queue(self, url, keywords):
         try:
-            DownloadJob(url, self).run()
+            self.__class__(url, self).run()
         except exception.NoExtractorError:
             self._write_unsupported(url)
 
@@ -227,6 +227,18 @@ class DownloadJob(Job):
         return instance
 
 
+class SimulationJob(DownloadJob):
+    """Simulate the extraction process without downloading anything"""
+
+    def handle_url(self, url, keywords, fallback=None):
+        self.pathfmt.set_keywords(keywords)
+        self.out.skip(self.pathfmt.path)
+        if self.sleep:
+            time.sleep(self.sleep)
+        if self.archive:
+            self.archive.add(keywords)
+
+
 class KeywordJob(Job):
     """Print available keywords"""
 
diff --git a/gallery_dl/option.py b/gallery_dl/option.py
index 03d5b263..45a4a99f 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/option.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/option.py
@@ -113,6 +113,10 @@ def build_parser():
         "-j", "--dump-json", dest="list_data", action="store_true",
         help="Print JSON information",
     )
+    output.add_argument(
+        "-s", "--simulate", dest="simulate", action="store_true",
+        help="Simulate data extraction; do not download anything",
+    )
     output.add_argument(
         "-K", "--list-keywords", dest="list_keywords", action="store_true",
         help=("Print a list of available keywords and example values "