diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 7146b6fa15..9c0bb19fb9 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -29503,14 +29503,20 @@ int
 virDomainNetSetModelString(virDomainNetDefPtr net,
                            const char *model)
 {
-    VIR_FREE(net->modelstr);
-    if ((net->model = virDomainNetModelTypeFromString(model)) >= 0)
-        return 0;
+    size_t i;
 
+    VIR_FREE(net->modelstr);
     net->model = VIR_DOMAIN_NET_MODEL_UNKNOWN;
     if (!model)
         return 0;
 
+    for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(virDomainNetModelTypeList); i++) {
+        if (STRCASEEQ(virDomainNetModelTypeList[i], model)) {
+            net->model = i;
+            return 0;
+        }
+    }
+
     if (strspn(model, NET_MODEL_CHARS) < strlen(model)) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG, "%s",
                        _("Model name contains invalid characters"));
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-many-models.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-many-models.xml
index 2b8f9b18eb..40fc5de06c 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-many-models.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/net-many-models.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
     </interface>
     <interface type='user'>
       <mac address='00:11:22:33:44:58'/>
-      <model type='virtio'/>
+      <!-- explicitly testing case insensitive model compare -->
+      <model type='ViRtIo'/>
     </interface>
     <interface type='user'>
       <mac address='00:11:22:33:44:58'/>