diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3dd13060..12fe8bb5 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ option(SPDLOG_BUILD_EXAMPLES "Build examples" ${SPDLOG_MASTER_PROJECT})
 option(SPDLOG_BUILD_BENCH "Build benchmarks (Requires https://github.com/google/benchmark.git to be installed)" OFF)
 option(SPDLOG_BUILD_TESTS "Build tests" ${SPDLOG_MASTER_PROJECT})
 option(SPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL "Use external fmt library instead of bundled" OFF)
-option(SPDLOG_FMT_HEADER_ONLY "Use header-only variant of external fmt library" OFF)
+option(SPDLOG_FMT_HEADER_ONLY "Use header-only variant of external fmt library" ON)
 option(SPDLOG_INSTALL "Generate the install target." ${SPDLOG_MASTER_PROJECT})
 
 target_include_directories(