diff --git a/server/php-engine.cpp b/server/php-engine.cpp
index bebf348866..b94d81db15 100644
--- a/server/php-engine.cpp
+++ b/server/php-engine.cpp
@@ -2085,7 +2085,7 @@ int main_args_handler(int i, const char *long_option) {
       }
       auto host = std::string(optarg, colon - optarg);
       auto port = atoi(colon + 1);
-      if (host.empty()) {
+      if (host.empty() || host == "localhost") {
         host = "127.0.0.1";
       }
 
diff --git a/tests/python/tests/stats/test_statshouse_smoke.py b/tests/python/tests/stats/test_statshouse_smoke.py
index 489f7af59b..a98bb414be 100644
--- a/tests/python/tests/stats/test_statshouse_smoke.py
+++ b/tests/python/tests/stats/test_statshouse_smoke.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def extra_class_setup(cls):
         cls.statshouse.start()
         cls.kphp_server.update_options({
             "--workers-num": cls.WORKERS_NUM,
-            "--statshouse-client": ":" + str(cls.statshouse.port),
+            "--statshouse-client": "localhost:" + str(cls.statshouse.port),
         })
 
     @classmethod