diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c9c571e8..d9f92f0a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.23)
 
 option(REFLECTCPP_BUILD_SHARED "Build shared library" ${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS})
+option(REFLECTCPP_INSTALL "Install reflect cpp" OFF)
 
 option(REFLECTCPP_JSON "Enable JSON support" ON) # enabled by default
 option(REFLECTCPP_AVRO "Enable AVRO support" OFF)
@@ -122,6 +123,10 @@ endif ()
 
 project(reflectcpp VERSION 0.19.0 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
+if (PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
+    set(REFLECTCPP_INSTALL ON)
+endif()
+
 if (REFLECTCPP_BUILD_SHARED)
     add_library(reflectcpp SHARED)
     set_target_properties(reflectcpp PROPERTIES SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION})
@@ -308,7 +313,7 @@ if (REFLECTCPP_BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
     add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
 endif ()
 
-if (PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL)
+if (REFLECTCPP_INSTALL)
     include(GNUInstallDirs)
     include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)