diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 11aec2a441..d1b6738c1b 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -293,6 +293,8 @@ option('live_block_migration', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'block migration in the main migration stream')
 option('replication', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'replication support')
+option('colo_proxy', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
+       description: 'colo-proxy support')
 option('bochs', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'bochs image format support')
 option('cloop', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
diff --git a/net/meson.build b/net/meson.build
index 87afca3e93..6f4ecde57f 100644
--- a/net/meson.build
+++ b/net/meson.build
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
 softmmu_ss.add(files(
   'announce.c',
   'checksum.c',
-  'colo-compare.c',
-  'colo.c',
   'dump.c',
   'eth.c',
   'filter-buffer.c',
   'filter-mirror.c',
-  'filter-rewriter.c',
   'filter.c',
   'hub.c',
   'net-hmp-cmds.c',
@@ -19,6 +16,16 @@ softmmu_ss.add(files(
   'util.c',
 ))
 
+if get_option('replication').allowed() or \
+    get_option('colo_proxy').allowed()
+  softmmu_ss.add(files('colo-compare.c'))
+  softmmu_ss.add(files('colo.c'))
+endif
+
+if get_option('colo_proxy').allowed()
+  softmmu_ss.add(files('filter-rewriter.c'))
+endif
+
 softmmu_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_TCG', if_true: files('filter-replay.c'))
 
 if have_l2tpv3
diff --git a/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh b/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
index 52fb079a60..a66eb31dae 100644
--- a/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
+++ b/scripts/meson-buildoptions.sh
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ meson_options_help() {
   printf "%s\n" '  capstone        Whether and how to find the capstone library'
   printf "%s\n" '  cloop           cloop image format support'
   printf "%s\n" '  cocoa           Cocoa user interface (macOS only)'
+  printf "%s\n" '  colo-proxy      colo-proxy support'
   printf "%s\n" '  coreaudio       CoreAudio sound support'
   printf "%s\n" '  crypto-afalg    Linux AF_ALG crypto backend driver'
   printf "%s\n" '  curl            CURL block device driver'
@@ -245,6 +246,8 @@ _meson_option_parse() {
     --disable-cloop) printf "%s" -Dcloop=disabled ;;
     --enable-cocoa) printf "%s" -Dcocoa=enabled ;;
     --disable-cocoa) printf "%s" -Dcocoa=disabled ;;
+    --enable-colo-proxy) printf "%s" -Dcolo_proxy=enabled ;;
+    --disable-colo-proxy) printf "%s" -Dcolo_proxy=disabled ;;
     --enable-coreaudio) printf "%s" -Dcoreaudio=enabled ;;
     --disable-coreaudio) printf "%s" -Dcoreaudio=disabled ;;
     --enable-coroutine-pool) printf "%s" -Dcoroutine_pool=true ;;
diff --git a/stubs/colo-compare.c b/stubs/colo-compare.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec726665be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stubs/colo-compare.c
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/notify.h"
+#include "net/colo-compare.h"
+
+void colo_compare_cleanup(void)
+{
+}
diff --git a/stubs/meson.build b/stubs/meson.build
index 8412cad15f..a56645e2f7 100644
--- a/stubs/meson.build
+++ b/stubs/meson.build
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ stub_ss.add(files('target-monitor-defs.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('trace-control.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('uuid.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('colo.c'))
+stub_ss.add(files('colo-compare.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('vmstate.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('vm-stop.c'))
 stub_ss.add(files('win32-kbd-hook.c'))