diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 70832c6..18588a1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
     <maven.compiler.target>1.${java.level}</maven.compiler.target>
     <workflow.version>1.14</workflow.version>
     <assertj.version>3.6.2</assertj.version>
+    <!-- by default we run all tests. But you can set this property to org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest to exclude slow tests -->
+    <exclude.test.group />
   </properties>
 
   <name>Zanata Plugin</name>
@@ -297,6 +299,7 @@
           <!-- We use late property evaluation (@{argLine}) so that surefire
                will pick up the argLine set by jacoco:prepare-agent. -->
           <argLine>@{argLine}</argLine>
+          <excludedGroups>${exclude.test.group}</excludedGroups>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/SlowTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/SlowTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03c288b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/SlowTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016, Red Hat, Inc. and individual contributors
+ * as indicated by the @author tags. See the copyright.txt file in the
+ * distribution for a full listing of individual contributors.
+ *
+ * This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of
+ * the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this software; if not, write to the Free
+ * Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+ * 02110-1301 USA, or see the FSF site: http://www.fsf.org.
+ */
+package org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata;
+
+/**
+ * JUnit test category marker.
+ */
+public interface SlowTest {
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataCLIInstallTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataCLIInstallTest.java
index 428ca60..bca135a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataCLIInstallTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataCLIInstallTest.java
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 
 
+import org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.jvnet.hudson.test.WithoutJenkins;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
 
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.fail;
 
+@Category(SlowTest.class)
 public class ZanataCLIInstallTest extends WithJenkins {
 
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepTest.java
index 53671ea..77d1afe 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepTest.java
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 import hudson.model.AbstractProject;
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@
  * @author Patrick Huang
  *         <a href="mailto:pahuang@redhat.com">pahuang@redhat.com</a>
  */
+@Category(SlowTest.class)
 public class ZanataSyncStepTest extends WithJenkins {
 
     @Test
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepWithZanataTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepWithZanataTest.java
index d03acb3..21d84b4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepWithZanataTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataSyncStepWithZanataTest.java
@@ -7,9 +7,11 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
+import org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.jvnet.hudson.test.TestBuilder;
 
 import com.github.tomakehurst.wiremock.junit.WireMockRule;
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@
  *         <a href="mailto:pahuang@redhat.com">pahuang@redhat.com</a>
  */
 // TODO this will fail on windows
+@Category(SlowTest.class)
 public class ZanataSyncStepWithZanataTest extends WithJenkins {
     private static final int FIVE_MINUTES = 1000 * 60 * 5;
     @Rule
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookJobTriggerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookJobTriggerTest.java
index 28fc444..f5c30bc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookJobTriggerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookJobTriggerTest.java
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
+import org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 import org.jvnet.hudson.test.JenkinsRule;
 import org.jvnet.hudson.test.TestBuilder;
 
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@
 import io.restassured.http.Header;
 import io.restassured.specification.RequestSpecification;
 
+@Category(SlowTest.class)
 public class ZanataWebhookJobTriggerTest {
     private static final Header JSON_CONTENT_TYPE =
             new Header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, APPLICATION_JSON);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookProjectPropertyTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookProjectPropertyTest.java
index 8fe1877..a17df72 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookProjectPropertyTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/zanata/zanatareposync/ZanataWebhookProjectPropertyTest.java
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 
 import org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.structs.DescribableHelper;
+import org.jenkinsci.plugins.zanata.SlowTest;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
 import hudson.model.FreeStyleProject;
 import hudson.util.Secret;
 
+@Category(SlowTest.class)
 public class ZanataWebhookProjectPropertyTest extends WithJenkins {
 
     @Test