diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d31fc0b..2211a55 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
-...
+- Add option `:disable-footnotes true` to disable parsing footnotes [#67](https://github.com/nextjournal/markdown/issues/67)
 
 ## 0.7.222
 
diff --git a/src/js/markdown.js b/src/js/markdown.js
index 0660b13..9299142 100644
--- a/src/js/markdown.js
+++ b/src/js/markdown.js
@@ -48,7 +48,9 @@ function MD(opts) {
   md.use(texmath, {delimiters: "dollars", ...opts})
   md.use(blockImage)
   md.use(mdToc)
-  md.use(footnotes)
+  if (!opts.disable_footnotes) {
+    md.use(footnotes)
+  }
   md.use(todoListPlugin)
   return md;
 }
diff --git a/src/nextjournal/markdown.cljc b/src/nextjournal/markdown.cljc
index 5c3969b..b879e31 100644
--- a/src/nextjournal/markdown.cljc
+++ b/src/nextjournal/markdown.cljc
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 
   Accepted `opts`:
     - `:text-tokenizers`: customize parsing of text in leaf nodes (see https://nextjournal.github.io/markdown/notebooks/parsing_extensibility).
-    - `:disable-inline-formulas`: turn off parsing of $-delimited inline formulas."
+    - `:disable-inline-formulas`: turn off parsing of $-delimited inline formulas.
+    - `:disable-footnotes`: turn off parsing of footnotes."
   ([markdown-string] (parse {} markdown-string))
   ([opts markdown-string]
    (-> (parse* {:opts opts} markdown-string)
diff --git a/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.clj b/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.clj
index e600553..00a08dd 100644
--- a/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.clj
+++ b/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.clj
@@ -46,14 +46,15 @@
   (^Parser [ctx]
    (.. Parser
        builder
-       (extensions [(extensions/create ctx)
-                    (AutolinkExtension/create)
-                    (TaskListItemsExtension/create)
-                    (TablesExtension/create)
-                    (StrikethroughExtension/create)
-                    (.. (FootnotesExtension/builder)
-                        (inlineFootnotes true)
-                        (build))])
+       (extensions (cond-> [(extensions/create ctx)
+                            (AutolinkExtension/create)
+                            (TaskListItemsExtension/create)
+                            (TablesExtension/create)
+                            (StrikethroughExtension/create)]
+                     (not (:disable-footnotes (:opts ctx)))
+                     (conj (.. (FootnotesExtension/builder)
+                               (inlineFootnotes true)
+                               (build)))))
        build)))
 
 ;; helpers / ctx
diff --git a/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.cljs b/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.cljs
index 8c8a878..496096e 100644
--- a/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.cljs
+++ b/src/nextjournal/markdown/impl.cljs
@@ -286,7 +286,8 @@ _this #should be a tag_, but this [_actually #foo shouldnt_](/bar/) is not."
                (assoc :doc (u/->zip ctx-in)
                       :footnotes (u/->zip {:type :footnotes
                                            :content (or (:footnotes ctx-in) [])}))
-               (apply-tokens (md/tokenize #js {:disable_inline_formulas (:disable-inline-formulas (:opts ctx-in))}
+               (apply-tokens (md/tokenize #js {:disable_inline_formulas (:disable-inline-formulas (:opts ctx-in))
+                                                            :disable_footnotes (:disable-footnotes (:opts ctx-in))}
                                           markdown)))]
        (-> ctx-out
            (dissoc :doc)
diff --git a/test/nextjournal/markdown_test.cljc b/test/nextjournal/markdown_test.cljc
index 6c1475d..578e6c5 100644
--- a/test/nextjournal/markdown_test.cljc
+++ b/test/nextjournal/markdown_test.cljc
@@ -1114,6 +1114,25 @@ link</a>")))))))
                                  "**$1** $200")
                       [:toc :content :footnotes :type]))))
 
+(deftest disable-footnotes-test
+  (is (= {:toc {:type :toc},
+          :footnotes [],
+          :content
+          [{:type :paragraph,
+            :content [{:type :text, :text "text ^[a-z] more"}]}],
+          :type :doc}
+         (md/parse {:disable-footnotes true}
+                   "text ^[a-z] more")))
+  (is (= {:toc {:type :toc},
+          :footnotes [],
+          :content
+          [{:type :paragraph,
+            :content [{:type :text, :text "text ^[a-z] more"}]}],
+          :type :doc}
+         (select-keys (md/parse* {:opts {:disable-footnotes true}}
+                                 "text ^[a-z] more")
+                      [:toc :content :footnotes :type]))))
+
 (deftest disable-default-opts-test
   (is (nil? (-> (md/parse {:text->id+emoji-fn nil}
                           "# 🎱 Hello 😀")