diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4720e1f1a2955..7a69d94dd5551 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ option(LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL  "llama: install tools"        ${LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL_
 
 # 3rd party libs
 option(LLAMA_CURL       "llama: use libcurl to download model from an URL" ON)
+option(LLAMA_OPENSSL    "llama: use openssl to download model from an URL" ON)
 option(LLAMA_LLGUIDANCE "llama-common: include LLGuidance library for structured output in common utils" OFF)
 
 # Required for relocatable CMake package
diff --git a/common/CMakeLists.txt b/common/CMakeLists.txt
index e7c4cc4bdc744..0cf104833c7f1 100644
--- a/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ if (LLAMA_CURL)
     target_compile_definitions(${TARGET} PUBLIC LLAMA_USE_CURL)
     include_directories(${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     set(LLAMA_COMMON_EXTRA_LIBS ${LLAMA_COMMON_EXTRA_LIBS} ${CURL_LIBRARIES})
-else()
+
+elseif (LLAMA_OPENSSL)
     find_package(OpenSSL)
     if (OpenSSL_FOUND)
         include(CheckCSourceCompiles)