diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StartEmbeddedMongoMojo.java b/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StartEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
index 4049995ea456fbe09feae8160e8fdc4fee7fa910..d18124876fbd486e38ed736794d43dea87cde3bd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StartEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StartEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
@@ -206,10 +206,20 @@ public class StartEmbeddedMongoMojo extends AbstractMojo {
      */
     private MavenProject project;
 
+    /**
+     * @parameter expression="${embedmongo.skip}" default-value="false"
+     */
+    private boolean skip;
+
     @Override
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
 
+        if (skip) {
+            getLog().debug("skip=true, not starting embedmongo");
+            return;
+        }
+        
         if (this.proxyHost != null && this.proxyHost.length() > 0) {
             this.addProxySelector();
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StopEmbeddedMongoMojo.java b/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StopEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
index c786546f43e73dc162ce8774cacdedd9dc2e3ef8..aaf05ccbe5ee21f084316a1985117176249254f7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StopEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/joelittlejohn/embedmongo/StopEmbeddedMongoMojo.java
@@ -30,8 +30,17 @@ import de.flapdoodle.embed.mongo.MongodProcess;
  */
 public class StopEmbeddedMongoMojo extends AbstractMojo {
 
+    /**
+     * @parameter expression="${embedmongo.skip}" default-value="false"
+     */
+    private boolean skip;
+
     @Override
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
+        if (skip) {
+            return;
+        }
+        
         MongodProcess mongod = (MongodProcess)getPluginContext().get(StartEmbeddedMongoMojo
             .MONGOD_CONTEXT_PROPERTY_NAME);