diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d650b23797..7bbf6e4dbd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ option(BUILD_CLIENT "BUILD_CLIENT" ON)
 # this option creates only libocsync and libowncloudsync (NOTE: BUILD_CLIENT needs to be on)
 option(BUILD_LIBRARIES_ONLY "BUILD_LIBRARIES_ONLY" OFF)
 
+# build the GUI component, when disabled only owncloudcmd is built
+option(BUILD_GUI "BUILD_GUI" ON)
+
 # When this option is enabled, 5xx errors are not added to the blacklist
 # Normally you don't want to enable this option because if a particular file
 # triggers a bug on the server, you want the file to be blacklisted.
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 6db99a49e4..9c9946a754 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ endif()
 add_subdirectory(csync)
 add_subdirectory(libsync)
 if (NOT BUILD_LIBRARIES_ONLY)
-    add_subdirectory(gui)
+    if (BUILD_GUI)
+        add_subdirectory(gui)
+    endif()
     add_subdirectory(cmd)
 
     if (WITH_CRASHREPORTER)