diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4b5b8a80ad3..266dd165d34 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 ## **[Unreleased]**
 
+- [#1028](https://github.com/wasmerio/wasmer/pull/1028) Introduce strict/non-strict modes for `get_wasi_version`
 - [#1029](https://github.com/wasmerio/wasmer/pull/1029) Add the “floating” `WasiVersion::Latest` version.
 - [#1006](https://github.com/wasmerio/wasmer/pull/1006) Fix minor panic issue when `wasmer::compile_with` called with llvm backend
 - [#1009](https://github.com/wasmerio/wasmer/pull/1009) Enable LLVM verifier for all tests, add new llvm-backend-tests crate.
diff --git a/lib/wasi-tests/src/lib.rs b/lib/wasi-tests/src/lib.rs
index dcfa5bc8b47..6bf3626dd71 100644
--- a/lib/wasi-tests/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lib/wasi-tests/src/lib.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ fn serializing_works() {
         .map_err(|e| format!("Can't compile module: {:?}", e))
         .unwrap();
 
-    let wasi_version = get_wasi_version(&module).expect("WASI module");
+    let wasi_version = get_wasi_version(&module, true).expect("WASI module");
     let import_object = generate_import_object_for_version(
         wasi_version,
         args.clone(),
diff --git a/lib/wasi-tests/tests/wasitests/_common.rs b/lib/wasi-tests/tests/wasitests/_common.rs
index 41bf14e44b4..04b830a91dc 100644
--- a/lib/wasi-tests/tests/wasitests/_common.rs
+++ b/lib/wasi-tests/tests/wasitests/_common.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ macro_rules! assert_wasi_output {
 
         let module = wasmer_runtime::compile(&wasm_bytes[..]).expect("WASM can't be compiled");
 
-        let wasi_version = get_wasi_version(&module).expect("WASI module");
+        let wasi_version = get_wasi_version(&module, true).expect("WASI module");
 
         let import_object = generate_import_object_for_version(
             wasi_version,
diff --git a/lib/wasi/src/utils.rs b/lib/wasi/src/utils.rs
index d57510eb5f3..8a72a215a43 100644
--- a/lib/wasi/src/utils.rs
+++ b/lib/wasi/src/utils.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use wasmer_runtime_core::module::Module;
 /// Check if a provided module is compiled for some version of WASI.
 /// Use [`get_wasi_version`] to find out which version of WASI the module is.
 pub fn is_wasi_module(module: &Module) -> bool {
-    get_wasi_version(module).is_some()
+    get_wasi_version(module, false).is_some()
 }
 
 /// The version of WASI. This is determined by the imports namespace
@@ -29,26 +29,53 @@ pub enum WasiVersion {
     Latest,
 }
 
-/// Detect the version of WASI being used from the namespace
-pub fn get_wasi_version(module: &Module) -> Option<WasiVersion> {
-    let mut import_iter = module
-        .info()
-        .imported_functions
-        .iter()
-        .map(|(_, import_name)| import_name.namespace_index);
-
-    // returns None if empty
-    let first = import_iter.next()?;
-    if import_iter.all(|idx| idx == first) {
-        // once we know that all the namespaces are the same, we can use it to
-        // detect which version of WASI this is
-        match module.info().namespace_table.get(first) {
-            "wasi_unstable" => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot0),
-            "wasi_snapshot_preview1" => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot1),
-            _ => None,
+/// Namespace for the `Snapshot0` version.
+const SNAPSHOT0_NAMESPACE: &'static str = "wasi_unstable";
+
+/// Namespace for the `Snapshot1` version.
+const SNAPSHOT1_NAMESPACE: &'static str = "wasi_snapshot_preview1";
+
+/// Detect the version of WASI being used based on the import
+/// namespaces.
+///
+/// A strict detection expects that all imports live in a single WASI
+/// namespace. A non-strict detection expects that at least one WASI
+/// namespace exits to detect the version. Note that the strict
+/// detection is faster than the non-strict one.
+pub fn get_wasi_version(module: &Module, strict: bool) -> Option<WasiVersion> {
+    let module_info = &module.info();
+    let mut imports = module_info.imported_functions.iter();
+
+    if strict {
+        let mut imports = imports.map(|(_, import_name)| import_name.namespace_index);
+
+        // Returns `None` if empty.
+        let first = imports.next()?;
+
+        // If there is only one namespace…
+        if imports.all(|index| index == first) {
+            // … and that this namespace is a WASI one.
+            match module_info.namespace_table.get(first) {
+                SNAPSHOT0_NAMESPACE => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot0),
+                SNAPSHOT1_NAMESPACE => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot1),
+                _ => None,
+            }
+        } else {
+            None
         }
     } else {
-        // not all funcs have the same namespace, therefore it's not WASI
-        None
+        let namespace_table = &module_info.namespace_table;
+
+        // Check that at least a WASI namespace exists, and use the
+        // first one in the list to detect the WASI version.
+        imports.find_map(|(_, import_name)| {
+            let namespace_index = import_name.namespace_index;
+
+            match namespace_table.get(namespace_index) {
+                SNAPSHOT0_NAMESPACE => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot0),
+                SNAPSHOT1_NAMESPACE => Some(WasiVersion::Snapshot1),
+                _ => None,
+            }
+        })
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/bin/wasmer.rs b/src/bin/wasmer.rs
index b3d82cd44be..652612103ef 100644
--- a/src/bin/wasmer.rs
+++ b/src/bin/wasmer.rs
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ fn execute_wasm(options: &Run) -> Result<(), String> {
         .map_err(|e| format!("{:?}", e))?;
     } else {
         #[cfg(feature = "wasi")]
-        let wasi_version = wasmer_wasi::get_wasi_version(&module);
+        let wasi_version = wasmer_wasi::get_wasi_version(&module, true);
         #[cfg(feature = "wasi")]
         let is_wasi = wasi_version.is_some();
         #[cfg(not(feature = "wasi"))]