diff --git a/src/tools/CliOptions.java b/src/tools/CliOptions.java
index a87c45a19f..1c13647387 100644
--- a/src/tools/CliOptions.java
+++ b/src/tools/CliOptions.java
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ static void overloadConfig(final ArgP argp, final Config config) {
         config.overrideConfig("tsd.core.enable_ui", "false");
       } else if (entry.getKey().toLowerCase().equals("--disable-api")) {
         config.overrideConfig("tsd.core.enable_api", "false");
+      } else if (entry.getKey().toLowerCase().equals("--disable-annotations")) {
+        config.overrideConfig("tsd.core.enable_annotations", "false");
       } else if (entry.getKey().toLowerCase().equals("--table")) {
         config.overrideConfig("tsd.storage.hbase.data_table", entry.getValue());
       } else if (entry.getKey().toLowerCase().equals("--uidtable")) {
diff --git a/src/tools/TSDMain.java b/src/tools/TSDMain.java
index a5bda860a0..5ece423922 100644
--- a/src/tools/TSDMain.java
+++ b/src/tools/TSDMain.java
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
                    "Set tsd.core.enable_ui to false (default true)");
     argp.addOption("--disable-api", "true|false",
                    "Set tsd.core.enable_api to false (default true)");
+    argp.addOption("--disable-annotations", "true|false",
+            "Set tsd.core.enable_annotations to false (default true)");
     argp.addOption("--backlog", "NUM",
                    "Size of connection attempt queue (default: 3072 or kernel"
                    + " somaxconn.");
diff --git a/src/tsd/RpcManager.java b/src/tsd/RpcManager.java
index 86638c1a12..64623fce37 100644
--- a/src/tsd/RpcManager.java
+++ b/src/tsd/RpcManager.java
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ private void initializeBuiltinRpcs(final String mode,
 
     final Boolean enableApi = tsdb.getConfig().getString("tsd.core.enable_api").equals("true");
     final Boolean enableUi = tsdb.getConfig().getString("tsd.core.enable_ui").equals("true");
+    final Boolean enableAnnotations = tsdb.getConfig().getString("tsd.core.enable_annotations").equals("true");
     final Boolean enableDieDieDie = tsdb.getConfig().getString("tsd.no_diediedie").equals("false");
 
     LOG.info("Mode: {}, HTTP UI Enabled: {}, HTTP API Enabled: {}", mode, enableUi, enableApi);
@@ -272,7 +273,9 @@ private void initializeBuiltinRpcs(final String mode,
       final DropCachesRpc dropcaches = new DropCachesRpc();
       final ListAggregators aggregators = new ListAggregators();
       final SuggestRpc suggest_rpc = new SuggestRpc();
-      final AnnotationRpc annotation_rpc = new AnnotationRpc();
+      if (enableAnnotations) {
+        final AnnotationRpc annotation_rpc = new AnnotationRpc();
+      }
       final Version version = new Version();
 
       telnet.put("stats", stats);
@@ -296,8 +299,10 @@ private void initializeBuiltinRpcs(final String mode,
 
       if (enableApi) {
         http.put("api/aggregators", aggregators);
-        http.put("api/annotation", annotation_rpc);
-        http.put("api/annotations", annotation_rpc);
+        if (enableAnnotations) {
+          http.put("api/annotation", annotation_rpc);
+          http.put("api/annotations", annotation_rpc);
+        }
         http.put("api/config", new ShowConfig());
         http.put("api/dropcaches", dropcaches);
         http.put("api/query", new QueryRpc());
diff --git a/src/utils/Config.java b/src/utils/Config.java
index 782bf36430..2d92d029cc 100644
--- a/src/utils/Config.java
+++ b/src/utils/Config.java
@@ -490,6 +490,7 @@ protected void setDefaults() {
     default_map.put("tsd.core.connections.limit", "0");
     default_map.put("tsd.core.enable_api", "true");
     default_map.put("tsd.core.enable_ui", "true");
+    default_map.put("tsd.core.enable_annotations", "true");
     default_map.put("tsd.core.meta.enable_realtime_ts", "false");
     default_map.put("tsd.core.meta.enable_realtime_uid", "false");
     default_map.put("tsd.core.meta.enable_tsuid_incrementing", "false");