diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 5068ac36..34600e12 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Outputs the Node.js compact build of `input.js` into `dist/index.js`.
   --v8-cache               Emit a build using the v8 compile cache
   --license [file]         Adds a file containing licensing information to the output
   --stats-out [file]       Emit webpack stats as json to the specified output file
-  --target [es]            ECMAScript target to use for output (default: es2015)
+  --target [es]            ECMAScript or Node.js target to use for output (default: es2015)
                            Learn more: https://webpack.js.org/configuration/target
   -d, --debug              Show debug logs
 ```
diff --git a/src/cli.js b/src/cli.js
index 974c12c6..e2347df8 100755
--- a/src/cli.js
+++ b/src/cli.js
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Options:
   --v8-cache               Emit a build using the v8 compile cache
   --license [file]         Adds a file containing licensing information to the output
   --stats-out [file]       Emit webpack stats as json to the specified output file
-  --target [es]            ECMAScript target to use for output (default: es2015)
+  --target [es]            ECMAScript or Node.js target to use for output (default: es2015)
                            Learn more: https://webpack.js.org/configuration/target
   -d, --debug              Show debug logs
 `;
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 8ffa3022..bf94f7b1 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ function ncc (
     console.log(`ncc: Compiling file ${filename} into ${esm ? 'ESM' : 'CJS'}`);
   }
 
-  if (target && !target.startsWith('es')) {
-    throw new Error(`Invalid "target" value provided ${target}, value must be es version e.g. es2015`)
+  if (target && (!target.startsWith('es') || !target.startsWith('node'))) {
+    throw new Error(`Invalid "target" value provided ${target}, value must be "esX" or "node[[X].Y]" e.g. es2015 or node20`)
   }
 
   const resolvedEntry = resolve.sync(entry);