diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 39a03e0db5..eb477289dd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ option(ENABLE_TESTS "Enables building the unit tests" ON)
 option(ENABLE_VULKAN "Enables vulkan video backend" ON)
 option(USE_DISCORD_PRESENCE "Enables Discord Rich Presence, show the current game on Discord" ON)
 option(USE_MGBA "Enables GBA controllers emulation using libmgba" ON)
+option(ENABLE_AUTOUPDATE "Enables support for automatic updates" ON)
 
 # Maintainers: if you consider blanket disabling this for your users, please
 # consider the following points:
@@ -536,6 +537,11 @@ if(ENABLE_ANALYTICS)
   add_definitions(-DUSE_ANALYTICS=1)
 endif()
 
+if(ENABLE_AUTOUPDATE)
+  message(STATUS "Enabling automatic update support")
+  add_definitions(-DAUTOUPDATE=1)
+endif()
+
 ########################################
 # Setup include directories (and make sure they are preferred over the Externals)
 #
diff --git a/Source/Core/CMakeLists.txt b/Source/Core/CMakeLists.txt
index 8dd46c1602..576e3eec62 100644
--- a/Source/Core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Source/Core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ if (APPLE OR WIN32)
   add_subdirectory(UpdaterCommon)
 endif()
 
-if (APPLE)
+if (APPLE AND ENABLE_AUTOUPDATE)
   add_subdirectory(MacUpdater)
 endif()
 
-if (WIN32)
+if (WIN32 AND ENABLE_AUTOUPDATE)
   add_subdirectory(WinUpdater)
 endif()
diff --git a/Source/Core/UICommon/AutoUpdate.cpp b/Source/Core/UICommon/AutoUpdate.cpp
index e423b9ec86..d02c2356b3 100644
--- a/Source/Core/UICommon/AutoUpdate.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/UICommon/AutoUpdate.cpp
@@ -128,11 +128,15 @@ std::string GenerateChangelog(const picojson::array& versions)
 
 bool AutoUpdateChecker::SystemSupportsAutoUpdates()
 {
+#if defined AUTOUPDATE
 #if defined _WIN32 || defined __APPLE__
   return true;
 #else
   return false;
 #endif
+#else
+  return false;
+#endif
 }
 
 static std::string GetPlatformID()