diff --git a/cmake/modules/AppTarget.cmake b/cmake/modules/AppTarget.cmake
index 9ce7daa..1403445 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/AppTarget.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/AppTarget.cmake
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ set_target_properties(
                CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden
                LINK_SEARCH_START_STATIC ${STATIC_LINKAGE}
                LINK_SEARCH_END_STATIC ${STATIC_LINKAGE}
-               AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS "${AUTOGEN_DEPS}")
+               AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS "${AUTOGEN_DEPS}"
+               QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS "${META_QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS}")
 
 # set properties for macOS bundle and generate icon for macOS bundle
 if (GUI_TYPE STREQUAL "MACOSX_BUNDLE")
diff --git a/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake b/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
index 0b8182b..919038c 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
@@ -76,6 +76,14 @@ elseif (CONFIGURATION_TARGET_SUFFIX)
     set(TARGET_SUFFIX "-${CONFIGURATION_TARGET_SUFFIX}")
 endif ()
 
+# disable linking against default Qt plugins by default
+if (NOT DEFINED META_QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS)
+    # note: The CMake modules in qtutilities take care of linking against static plugins on their own because old Qt versions
+    # did not provide any support and one had to do it manually. Considering that with Qt's default my projects end up
+    # pulling in needlessly many plugins I prefer to keep my current approach and disable Qt's defaults.
+    set(META_QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS 0) # needs to be exactly 0, Qt's code uses STREQUAL 0
+endif ()
+
 # find standard installation directories - note: Allow overriding CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR and LIB_INSTALL_DIR but don't use the
 # default from GNUInstallDirs (as an Arch Linux user this feels odd and I also want to avoid breaking existing build
 # scripts).
diff --git a/cmake/modules/LibraryTarget.cmake b/cmake/modules/LibraryTarget.cmake
index decd4e9..cf773a4 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/LibraryTarget.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/LibraryTarget.cmake
@@ -157,7 +157,8 @@ else ()
                    CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden
                    LINK_SEARCH_START_STATIC ${STATIC_LINKAGE}
                    LINK_SEARCH_END_STATIC ${STATIC_LINKAGE}
-                   AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS "${AUTOGEN_DEPS}")
+                   AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS "${AUTOGEN_DEPS}"
+                   QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS "${META_QT_DEFAULT_PLUGINS}")
     if (META_PLUGIN_CATEGORY)
         set_target_properties(${META_TARGET_NAME} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${META_PLUGIN_CATEGORY}")
     endif ()