diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3ef2201..8290d4b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -36,13 +36,19 @@ set(CMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS ON)
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
 option(BTOP_STATIC "Link btop statically" OFF)
-option(BTOP_LTO "Enable LTO" ON)
 option(BTOP_USE_MOLD "Use mold to link btop" OFF)
 option(BTOP_PEDANTIC "Enable a bunch of additional warnings" OFF)
 option(BTOP_WERROR "Compile with warnings as errors" OFF)
 option(BTOP_GPU "Enable GPU support" ON)
 cmake_dependent_option(BTOP_RSMI_STATIC "Link statically to ROCm SMI" OFF "BTOP_GPU" OFF)
 
+# Enable LTO in release builds by default
+if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES "Rel(ease|WithDebInfo)")
+  option(BTOP_LTO "Enable LTO" ON)
+else()
+  option(BTOP_LTO "Enable LTO" OFF)
+endif()
+
 if(BTOP_STATIC AND NOT APPLE)
   # Set this before calling find_package
   set(CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_SUFFIXES ".a")