diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 9039fd525..0b213deef 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@
 
 #### Other
 - Add ES2015 module build ([#152])
+- Use query-string module instead of qs to save on bytes ([#121])
 
 [HEAD]: /~https://github.com/rackt/history/compare/latest...HEAD
 [#146]: /~https://github.com/rackt/history/pull/146
 [#152]: /~https://github.com/rackt/history/pull/152
 [#167]: /~https://github.com/rackt/history/pull/167
+[#121]: /~https://github.com/rackt/history/issues/121
 
 ## [v1.13.1]
 > Nov 13, 2015
diff --git a/docs/QuerySupport.md b/docs/QuerySupport.md
index 9cf0b68dd..dbf1c627c 100644
--- a/docs/QuerySupport.md
+++ b/docs/QuerySupport.md
@@ -5,22 +5,24 @@ Support for parsing and serializing [URL queries](Glossary.md#query) is provided
 ```js
 import { createHistory, useQueries } from 'history'
 
-// Use the built-in query parsing/serialization.
-let history = useQueries(createHistory)()
+const history = useQueries(createHistory)()
 
-// Use custom query parsing/serialization.
-let history = useQueries(createHistory)({
+history.listen(function (location) {
+  console.log(location.query)
+})
+```
+
+If you need custom query parsing and/or serialization, you can override either using the `parseQueryString` and `stringifyQuery` options, respectively.
+
+```js
+const history = useQueries(createHistory)({
   parseQueryString: function (queryString) {
-    return qs.parse(queryString)
+    // TODO: return a parsed version of queryString
   },
   stringifyQuery: function (query) {
-    return qs.stringify(query, { arrayFormat: 'brackets' })
+    // TODO: return a query string created from query
   }
 })
-
-history.listen(function (location) {
-  console.log(location.query)
-})
 ```
 
 Query-enhanced histories also accept URL queries as trailing arguments to `pushState`, `replaceState`, `createPath`, and `createHref`.
diff --git a/modules/useQueries.js b/modules/useQueries.js
index 2cc5a5b02..fbe9e30b8 100644
--- a/modules/useQueries.js
+++ b/modules/useQueries.js
@@ -1,15 +1,25 @@
-import qs from 'qs'
+import warning from 'warning'
+import { parse, stringify } from 'query-string'
 import runTransitionHook from './runTransitionHook'
 import parsePath from './parsePath'
 
 const SEARCH_BASE_KEY = '$searchBase'
 
 function defaultStringifyQuery(query) {
-  return qs.stringify(query, { arrayFormat: 'brackets' }).replace(/%20/g, '+')
+  return stringify(query).replace(/%20/g, '+')
 }
 
-function defaultParseQueryString(queryString) {
-  return qs.parse(queryString.replace(/\+/g, '%20'))
+const defaultParseQueryString = parse
+
+function isNestedObject(object) {
+  for (const p in object)
+    if (object.hasOwnProperty(p) &&
+        typeof object[p] === 'object' &&
+        !Array.isArray(object[p]) &&
+        object[p] !== null)
+      return true
+
+  return false
 }
 
 /**
@@ -45,6 +55,12 @@ function useQueries(createHistory) {
       if (!query || (queryString = stringifyQuery(query)) === '')
         return location
 
+      warning(
+        stringifyQuery !== defaultStringifyQuery || !isNestedObject(query),
+        'useQueries does not stringify nested query objects by default; ' +
+        'use a custom stringifyQuery function'
+      )
+
       if (typeof location === 'string')
         location = parsePath(location)
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1a3558cb0..b58321032 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "deep-equal": "^1.0.0",
     "invariant": "^2.0.0",
-    "qs": "^4.0.0",
+    "query-string": "^3.0.0",
     "warning": "^2.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {