diff --git a/builtin/remote.c b/builtin/remote.c
index 46ecfd9f7b0dd0b28169341d14132df376e509bc..b4ff4689770e402675faba2ce400150b4803a360 100644
--- a/builtin/remote.c
+++ b/builtin/remote.c
@@ -180,7 +180,9 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv)
 	url = argv[1];
 
 	remote = remote_get(name);
-	if (remote && (remote->url_nr > 1 || strcmp(name, remote->url[0]) ||
+	if (remote && (remote->url_nr > 1 ||
+			(strcmp(name, remote->url[0]) &&
+				strcmp(url, remote->url[0])) ||
 			remote->fetch_refspec_nr))
 		die(_("remote %s already exists."), name);
 
diff --git a/t/t5505-remote.sh b/t/t5505-remote.sh
index ac79dd915da4a520e90fca6a11a239aba6e688d7..17c6330f988ecc98735307fbfd8bded5283feb61 100755
--- a/t/t5505-remote.sh
+++ b/t/t5505-remote.sh
@@ -1113,4 +1113,9 @@ test_extra_arg set-url origin newurl oldurl
 # prune takes any number of args
 # update takes any number of args
 
+test_expect_success 'add remote matching the "insteadOf" URL' '
+	git config url.xyz@example.com.insteadOf backup &&
+	git remote add backup xyz@example.com
+'
+
 test_done