diff --git a/discovery/http/fixtures/http_sd.good.json b/discovery/http/fixtures/http_sd.good.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fbc462d13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/discovery/http/fixtures/http_sd.good.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[
+   {
+      "labels": {
+         "__meta_datacenter": "bru1"
+      },
+      "targets": [
+         "127.0.0.1:9090"
+      ]
+   }
+]
diff --git a/discovery/http/http.go b/discovery/http/http.go
index 9c6db98a4..df093b657 100644
--- a/discovery/http/http.go
+++ b/discovery/http/http.go
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-kit/log"
@@ -41,7 +43,8 @@ var (
 		RefreshInterval:  model.Duration(60 * time.Second),
 		HTTPClientConfig: config.DefaultHTTPClientConfig,
 	}
-	userAgent = fmt.Sprintf("Prometheus/%s", version.Version)
+	userAgent        = fmt.Sprintf("Prometheus/%s", version.Version)
+	matchContentType = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?i:application\/json(;\s*charset=("utf-8"|utf-8))?)$`)
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ func (d *Discovery) refresh(ctx context.Context) ([]*targetgroup.Group, error) {
 		return nil, errors.Errorf("server returned HTTP status %s", resp.Status)
 	}
 
-	if resp.Header.Get("Content-Type") != "application/json" {
+	if !matchContentType.MatchString(strings.TrimSpace(resp.Header.Get("Content-Type"))) {
 		return nil, errors.Errorf("unsupported content type %q", resp.Header.Get("Content-Type"))
 	}
 
diff --git a/discovery/http/http_test.go b/discovery/http/http_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7adcb7c70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/discovery/http/http_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Prometheus Authors
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package http
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/go-kit/log"
+	"github.com/prometheus/common/config"
+	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
+	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/discovery/targetgroup"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestHTTPValidRefresh(t *testing.T) {
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.FileServer(http.Dir("./fixtures")))
+	t.Cleanup(ts.Close)
+
+	cfg := SDConfig{
+		HTTPClientConfig: config.DefaultHTTPClientConfig,
+		URL:              ts.URL + "/http_sd.good.json",
+		RefreshInterval:  model.Duration(30 * time.Second),
+	}
+
+	d, err := NewDiscovery(&cfg, log.NewNopLogger())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	tgs, err := d.refresh(ctx)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	expectedTargets := []*targetgroup.Group{
+		{
+			Targets: []model.LabelSet{
+				{
+					model.AddressLabel: model.LabelValue("127.0.0.1:9090"),
+				},
+			},
+			Labels: model.LabelSet{
+				model.LabelName("__meta_datacenter"): model.LabelValue("bru1"),
+				model.LabelName("__meta_url"):        model.LabelValue(ts.URL + "/http_sd.good.json"),
+			},
+			Source: urlSource(ts.URL+"/http_sd.good.json", 0),
+		},
+	}
+	require.Equal(t, tgs, expectedTargets)
+
+}
+
+func TestHTTPInvalidCode(t *testing.T) {
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
+	}))
+
+	t.Cleanup(ts.Close)
+
+	cfg := SDConfig{
+		HTTPClientConfig: config.DefaultHTTPClientConfig,
+		URL:              ts.URL,
+		RefreshInterval:  model.Duration(30 * time.Second),
+	}
+
+	d, err := NewDiscovery(&cfg, log.NewNopLogger())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	_, err = d.refresh(ctx)
+	require.EqualError(t, err, "server returned HTTP status 400 Bad Request")
+}
+
+func TestHTTPInvalidFormat(t *testing.T) {
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, "{}")
+	}))
+
+	t.Cleanup(ts.Close)
+
+	cfg := SDConfig{
+		HTTPClientConfig: config.DefaultHTTPClientConfig,
+		URL:              ts.URL,
+		RefreshInterval:  model.Duration(30 * time.Second),
+	}
+
+	d, err := NewDiscovery(&cfg, log.NewNopLogger())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	_, err = d.refresh(ctx)
+	require.EqualError(t, err, `unsupported content type "text/plain; charset=utf-8"`)
+}
+
+func TestContentTypeRegex(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		header string
+		match  bool
+	}{
+		{
+			header: "application/json;charset=utf-8",
+			match:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/json;charset=UTF-8",
+			match:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "Application/JSON;Charset=\"utf-8\"",
+			match:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/json; charset=\"utf-8\"",
+			match:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/json",
+			match:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/jsonl; charset=\"utf-8\"",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/json;charset=UTF-9",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application /json;charset=UTF-8",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/ json;charset=UTF-8",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "application/json;",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			header: "charset=UTF-8",
+			match:  false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range cases {
+		t.Run(test.header, func(t *testing.T) {
+			require.Equal(t, test.match, matchContentType.MatchString(test.header))
+		})
+	}
+}