diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index 5662ced6b..fff93c214 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "chalk": "^1.1.1",
-    "commander": "^2.9.0",
+    "commander": "^2.19.0",
     "compression": "^1.7.1",
     "connect": "^3.6.5",
     "denodeify": "^1.2.1",
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cliEntry.js b/packages/cli/src/cliEntry.js
index 90ee8dea5..7b03f702e 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cliEntry.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cliEntry.js
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 import childProcess from 'child_process';
 import commander from 'commander';
-import minimist from 'minimist';
 import path from 'path';
 import type {CommandT, ContextT} from './tools/types.flow';
 import getLegacyConfig from './tools/getLegacyConfig';
@@ -18,10 +17,10 @@ import {getCommands} from './commands';
 import init from './commands/init/init';
 import assertRequiredOptions from './tools/assertRequiredOptions';
 import logger from './tools/logger';
-import pkg from '../package.json';
+import pkgJson from '../package.json';
 
 commander
-  .version(pkg.version)
+  .option('--version', 'Print CLI version')
   .option('--projectRoot [string]', 'Path to the root of the project')
   .option('--reactNativePath [string]', 'Path to React Native');
 
@@ -39,41 +38,33 @@ const handleError = err => {
 
 // Custom printHelpInformation command inspired by internal Commander.js
 // one modified to suit our needs
-function printHelpInformation() {
+function printHelpInformation(examples, pkg) {
   let cmdName = this._name;
   if (this._alias) {
     cmdName = `${cmdName}|${this._alias}`;
   }
 
-  const sourceInformation = this.pkg
-    ? [`  ${chalk.bold('Source:')} ${this.pkg.name}@${this.pkg.version}`, '']
+  const sourceInformation = pkg
+    ? [`${chalk.bold('Source:')} ${pkg.name}@${pkg.version}`, '']
     : [];
 
   let output = [
-    '',
-    chalk.bold(chalk.cyan(`  react-native ${cmdName} ${this.usage()}`)),
-    this._description ? `  ${this._description}` : '',
-    '',
+    chalk.bold(`react-native ${cmdName} ${this.usage()}`),
+    this._description ? `\n${this._description}\n` : '',
     ...sourceInformation,
-    `  ${chalk.bold('Options:')}`,
-    '',
-    this.optionHelp().replace(/^/gm, '    '),
-    '',
+    `${chalk.bold('Options:')}`,
+    this.optionHelp().replace(/^/gm, '  '),
   ];
 
-  if (this.examples && this.examples.length > 0) {
-    const formattedUsage = this.examples
-      .map(example => `    ${example.desc}: \n    ${chalk.cyan(example.cmd)}`)
+  if (examples && examples.length > 0) {
+    const formattedUsage = examples
+      .map(example => `  ${example.desc}: \n  ${chalk.cyan(example.cmd)}`)
       .join('\n\n');
 
-    output = output.concat([
-      chalk.bold('  Example usage:'),
-      '',
-      formattedUsage,
-    ]);
+    output = output.concat([chalk.bold('\nExample usage:'), formattedUsage]);
   }
 
-  return output.concat(['', '']).join('\n');
+  return output.join('\n');
 }
 
 function printUnknownCommand(cmdName) {
@@ -93,9 +84,7 @@ const addCommand = (command: CommandT, ctx: ContextT) => {
   const options = command.options || [];
 
   const cmd = commander
-    .command(command.name, undefined, {
-      noHelp: !command.description,
-    })
+    .command(command.name, undefined, {noHelp: !command.description})
     .description(command.description)
     .action(function handleAction(...args) {
       const passedOptions = this.opts();
@@ -109,10 +98,12 @@ const addCommand = (command: CommandT, ctx: ContextT) => {
         .catch(handleError);
     });
 
-  cmd.helpInformation = printHelpInformation.bind(cmd);
-  cmd.examples = command.examples;
-  // $FlowFixMe: This is either null or not
-  cmd.pkg = command.pkg;
+  cmd.helpInformation = printHelpInformation.bind(
+    cmd,
+    command.examples,
+    // $FlowFixMe - we know pkg may be missing...
+    command.pkg,
+  );
 
   options.forEach(opt =>
     cmd.option(
@@ -123,7 +114,11 @@ const addCommand = (command: CommandT, ctx: ContextT) => {
     ),
   );
 
-  // Redefined here to appear in the `--help` section
+  /**
+   * We want every command (like "start", "link") to accept below options.
+   * To achieve that we append them to regular options of each command here.
+   * This way they'll be displayed in the commands --help menus.
+   */
   cmd
     .option('--projectRoot [string]', 'Path to the root of the project')
     .option('--reactNativePath [string]', 'Path to React Native');
@@ -157,20 +152,12 @@ async function setupAndRun() {
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Read passed `options` and take the "global" settings
-   *
-   * @todo(grabbou): Consider unifying this by removing either `commander`
-   * or `minimist`
-   */
-  const options = minimist(process.argv.slice(2));
-
-  const root = options.projectRoot
-    ? path.resolve(options.projectRoot)
+  const root = commander.projectRoot
+    ? path.resolve(commander.projectRoot)
     : process.cwd();
 
-  const reactNativePath = options.reactNativePath
-    ? path.resolve(options.reactNativePath)
+  const reactNativePath = commander.reactNativePath
+    ? path.resolve(commander.reactNativePath)
     : (() => {
         try {
           return path.dirname(
@@ -198,9 +185,16 @@ async function setupAndRun() {
 
   commander.parse(process.argv);
 
-  if (!options._.length) {
+  if (commander.rawArgs.length === 2) {
     commander.outputHelp();
   }
+
+  // We handle --version as a special case like this because both `commander`
+  // and `yargs` append it to every command and we don't want to do that.
+  // E.g. outside command `init` has --version flag and we want to preserve it.
+  if (commander.args.length === 0 && commander.version === true) {
+    console.log(pkgJson.version);
+  }
 }
 
 export default {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 004d46d55..77823481f 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2381,17 +2381,20 @@ combined-stream@^1.0.6, combined-stream@~1.0.6:
   dependencies:
     delayed-stream "~1.0.0"
 
-commander@^2.9.0:
+commander@^2.19.0:
   version "2.19.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/commander/-/commander-2.19.0.tgz#f6198aa84e5b83c46054b94ddedbfed5ee9ff12a"
+  integrity sha512-6tvAOO+D6OENvRAh524Dh9jcfKTYDQAqvqezbCW82xj5X0pSrcpxtvRKHLG0yBY6SD7PSDrJaj+0AiOcKVd1Xg==
 
 commander@~2.13.0:
   version "2.13.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/commander/-/commander-2.13.0.tgz#6964bca67685df7c1f1430c584f07d7597885b9c"
+  integrity sha512-MVuS359B+YzaWqjCL/c+22gfryv+mCBPHAv3zyVI2GN8EY6IRP8VwtasXn8jyyhvvq84R4ImN1OKRtcbIasjYA==
 
 commander@~2.17.1:
   version "2.17.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/commander/-/commander-2.17.1.tgz#bd77ab7de6de94205ceacc72f1716d29f20a77bf"
+  integrity sha512-wPMUt6FnH2yzG95SA6mzjQOEKUU3aLaDEmzs1ti+1E9h+CsrZghRlqEM/EJ4KscsQVG8uNN4uVreUeT8+drlgg==
 
 compare-func@^1.3.1:
   version "1.3.2"