diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ec5b97565..710ac6dbc 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -694,20 +694,34 @@ add_subdirectory(3rdparty/SortFilterProxyModel)
 set(SFPM_OBJECTS $<TARGET_OBJECTS:SortFilterProxyModel>)
 
 # md4c
-set(BUILD_MD2HTML_EXECUTABLE OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build md2html executable" FORCE)
-set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build shared md4c library" FORCE)
-add_subdirectory(3rdparty/md4c EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_LINK_DIRS ${MD4C_BINARY_DIR}/src)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_INCLUDE_DIRS ${MD4C_SOURCE_DIR}/src)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS md4c-html)
+find_package(md4c)
+if(md4c_FOUND)
+  message(STATUS "Using system-provided md4c-html")
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS md4c::md4c-html)
+else()
+  message("Using bundled md4c-html library")
+  set(BUILD_MD2HTML_EXECUTABLE OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build md2html executable" FORCE)
+  set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build shared md4c library" FORCE)
+  add_subdirectory(3rdparty/md4c EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LINK_DIRS ${MD4C_BINARY_DIR}/src)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_INCLUDE_DIRS ${MD4C_SOURCE_DIR}/src)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS md4c-html)
+endif()
 
 # tidy-html5
-set(BUILD_SHARED_LIB OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build shared tidy library" FORCE)
-set(SUPPORT_CONSOLE_APP OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build tidy console app" FORCE)
-add_subdirectory(3rdparty/tidy-html5 EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_LINK_DIRS ${tidy_BINARY_DIR}/Release)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_INCLUDE_DIRS ${tidy_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
-list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS tidy-static)
+pkg_check_modules(tidy IMPORTED_TARGET tidy)
+if(tidy_FOUND)
+  message(STATUS "Using system-provided tidy")
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS PkgConfig::tidy)
+else()
+  message("Using bundled tidy library")
+  set(BUILD_SHARED_LIB OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build shared tidy library" FORCE)
+  set(SUPPORT_CONSOLE_APP OFF CACHE BOOL "Don't build tidy console app" FORCE)
+  add_subdirectory(3rdparty/tidy-html5 EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LINK_DIRS ${tidy_BINARY_DIR}/Release)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_INCLUDE_DIRS ${tidy_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
+  list(APPEND CLIENT_LIBS tidy-static)
+endif()
 
 # ZXing-cpp configuration
 set(BUILD_EXAMPLES OFF CACHE BOOL "")