diff --git a/src/node_url.cc b/src/node_url.cc
index 463de5f268ee95..1cb0a5fd210f36 100644
--- a/src/node_url.cc
+++ b/src/node_url.cc
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ void BindingData::DomainToUnicode(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
 
 // TODO(@anonrig): Add V8 Fast API for CanParse method
 void BindingData::CanParse(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
-  CHECK_GE(args.Length(), 2);
+  CHECK_GE(args.Length(), 1);
   CHECK(args[0]->IsString());  // input
   // args[1] // base url
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-canparse.js b/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-canparse.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8f8ada132b5ede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-whatwg-url-canparse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+
+const { URL } = require('url');
+const assert = require('assert');
+
+// It should not throw when called without a base string
+assert.strictEqual(URL.canParse('https://example.org'), true);