diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e87173e..0ea2528 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -296,13 +296,9 @@ if (IXWEBSOCKET_INSTALL)
 endif()
 
 if (USE_WS OR USE_TEST)
-  include(FetchContent)
-  FetchContent_Declare(spdlog
-      GIT_REPOSITORY "https://github.com/gabime/spdlog"
-      GIT_TAG "v1.8.0"
-      GIT_SHALLOW 1) 
-
-  FetchContent_MakeAvailable(spdlog)
+  find_package(spdlog REQUIRED)
+  find_package(fmt REQUIRED)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DSPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL")
 
   if (USE_WS)
     add_subdirectory(ws)
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index c8822a4..fb12711 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ target_include_directories(ixwebsocket_test PRIVATE
   ../third_party
 )
 target_link_libraries(ixwebsocket_test ixwebsocket)
-target_link_libraries(ixwebsocket_test spdlog)
+target_link_libraries(ixwebsocket_test spdlog::spdlog fmt::fmt)
 
 foreach(TEST_TARGET_NAME ${TEST_TARGET_NAMES})
   add_executable(${TEST_TARGET_NAME}
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ foreach(TEST_TARGET_NAME ${TEST_TARGET_NAMES})
   target_link_libraries(${TEST_TARGET_NAME} ixwebsocket_test)
   target_link_libraries(${TEST_TARGET_NAME} ixwebsocket)
 
-  target_link_libraries(${TEST_TARGET_NAME} spdlog)
+  target_link_libraries(${TEST_TARGET_NAME} spdlog::spdlog fmt::fmt)
 
   add_test(NAME ${TEST_TARGET_NAME}
            COMMAND ${TEST_TARGET_NAME}
diff --git a/ws/CMakeLists.txt b/ws/CMakeLists.txt
index 98f15de..10834e5 100644
--- a/ws/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ws/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -31,6 +31,6 @@ add_executable(ws
 # library with the most dependencies come first
 target_link_libraries(ws ixwebsocket)
 
-target_link_libraries(ws spdlog)
+target_link_libraries(ws spdlog::spdlog fmt::fmt)
 
 install(TARGETS ws RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)