diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 82c4f3e8108..118d611bd20 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ set (WITH_DESKTOP TRUE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether QGIS desktop should be bui
 set (WITH_GUI TRUE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether QGIS GUI library should be built")
 set(WITH_VCPKG FALSE CACHE BOOL "Use the vcpkg submodule for dependency management.")
 
-set(WITH_VCPKG TRUE CACHE BOOL "Use the vcpkg submodule for dependency management.")
 set(SDK_PATH "" CACHE STRING "Build with VCPKG SDK")
 
 if(NOT SDK_PATH STREQUAL "")
@@ -45,6 +44,9 @@ endif()
 
 if(WITH_VCPKG)
   list(APPEND CMAKE_PROGRAM_PATH "${VCPKG_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET}/")
+  set(PREFER_INTERNAL_LIBS FALSE)
+else()
+  set(PREFER_INTERNAL_LIBS TRUE)
 endif()
 
 #############################################################
@@ -272,7 +274,8 @@ if(WITH_CORE)
   endif()
 
   # try to configure and build POLY2TRI support
-  set (WITH_INTERNAL_POLY2TRI TRUE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether POLY2TRI should be built from internal copy")
+  set (WITH_INTERNAL_POLY2TRI PREFER_INTERNAL_LIBS CACHE BOOL "Determines whether POLY2TRI should be built from internal copy")
+  set (WITH_INTERNAL_MESHOPTIMIZER PREFER_INTERNAL_LIBS CACHE BOOL "Determines whether MESHOPTIMIZER should be built from internal copy")
 
   # try to configure and build POSTGRESQL support
   set (WITH_POSTGRESQL TRUE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether POSTGRESQL support should be built")
@@ -385,7 +388,7 @@ if(WITH_CORE)
   find_package(EXPAT REQUIRED)
   find_package(Spatialindex REQUIRED)
   find_package(LibZip REQUIRED)
-  set (WITH_INTERNAL_NLOHMANN_JSON ON CACHE BOOL "Determines whether the vendored copy of nlohmann-json should be used")
+  set (WITH_INTERNAL_NLOHMANN_JSON PREFER_INTERNAL_LIBS CACHE BOOL "Determines whether the vendored copy of nlohmann-json should be used")
   find_package(nlohmann_json REQUIRED)
 
   # The following bypasses the FindSQLite3 module introduced in CMake 3.14
diff --git a/src/core/CMakeLists.txt b/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
index 750cbcaaa72..89121d2a7c8 100644
--- a/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ if (WITH_PDF4QT)
   SUBDIRS(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/PDF4QT)
 endif()
 
+if(WITH_INTERNAL_MESHOPTIMIZER)
+  add_library(STATIC meshoptimizer::meshoptimizer 
+    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/meshOptimizer/simplifier.cpp
+  )
+
+  target_include_directories(meshoptimizer::meshoptimizer
+    ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/meshOptimizer
+  )
+else()
+  find_package(meshoptimizer CONFIG REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
 set(QGIS_CORE_SRCS
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/kdbush/include/kdbush.hpp
 
@@ -30,8 +42,6 @@ set(QGIS_CORE_SRCS
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/nmea/time.c
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/nmea/tok.c
 
-  ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/meshOptimizer/simplifier.cpp
-
   ${FLEX_QgsExpressionLexer_OUTPUTS}
   ${BISON_QgsExpressionParser_OUTPUTS}
   ${FLEX_QgsSqlStatementLexer_OUTPUTS}
@@ -2434,7 +2444,6 @@ target_include_directories(qgis_core PUBLIC
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/kdbush/include
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/nmea
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/rtree/include
-  ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/meshOptimizer
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/tinygltf
 )
 
@@ -2549,6 +2558,7 @@ target_link_libraries(qgis_core
   ${EXIV2_LIBRARY}
   PROJ::proj
   nlohmann_json::nlohmann_json
+  meshoptimizer::meshoptimizer
 )
 
 if(BUILD_WITH_QT6)
diff --git a/vcpkg/vcpkg.json b/vcpkg/vcpkg.json
index b2716078a9c..ac48f5c5902 100644
--- a/vcpkg/vcpkg.json
+++ b/vcpkg/vcpkg.json
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@
     },
     "libxml2",
     "libzip",
+    "meshoptimizer",
+    "nlohmann-json",
     "pdal",
     "proj",
     "protobuf",