diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6bb6051011007109bf2916935c173e06968ad8ba..27ae1d95ebae4594759ae238953bb6a2eee5490f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ cache:
 variables:
   MESON_TEST_TIMEOUT_MULTIPLIER: 4
   G_MESSAGES_DEBUG: all
-  MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS: "--buildtype debug --wrap-mode=nodownload --prefix /usr"
+  MESON_COMMON_OPTIONS: "--buildtype debug --wrap-mode=nodownload --prefix /usr -Dsoup2=true"
   BUNDLE: "gnome-software-dev.flatpak"
 
 .build:
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4c81ca6011c6b9faba9f523ee43492ff37d7f9e5..d2013323413005d96dff16304a0172a593d1cc1d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -129,13 +129,13 @@ gtk = dependency('gtk4', version : '>= 4.2')
 glib = dependency('glib-2.0', version : '>= 2.66.0')
 json_glib = dependency('json-glib-1.0', version : '>= 1.2.0')
 libm = cc.find_library('m', required: false)
-if get_option('soup3')
-  libsoup = dependency('libsoup-3.0', version : '>= 3.0')
-  libsoupapiversion = '3.0'
-else
+if get_option('soup2')
   libsoup = dependency('libsoup-2.4', version : '>= 2.52.0')
   libsoupapiversion = '2.4'
   conf.set('SOUP_HTTP_URI_FLAGS', '(G_URI_FLAGS_HAS_PASSWORD | G_URI_FLAGS_ENCODED_PATH | G_URI_FLAGS_ENCODED_QUERY | G_URI_FLAGS_ENCODED_FRAGMENT | G_URI_FLAGS_SCHEME_NORMALIZE)')
+else
+  libsoup = dependency('libsoup-3.0', version : '>= 3.0')
+  libsoupapiversion = '3.0'
 endif
 libadwaita = dependency('libadwaita-1',
   version: '>=1.0.0.alpha.3',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 07cac95e21dd19f74ac4883894d0c3b485ccec6e..70f62c52ba56e9a1bdc969785bf52ba7fcd95c77 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@ option('default_featured_apps', type : 'boolean', value : true, description : 'e
 option('mogwai', type : 'boolean', value : false, description : 'enable metered data support using Mogwai')
 option('sysprof', type : 'feature', value : 'auto', description : 'enable sysprof-capture support for profiling')
 option('profile', type : 'string', value : '', description : 'Build with specified application ID')
-option('soup3', type : 'boolean', value : false, description : 'build with libsoup3')
+option('soup2', type : 'boolean', value : false, description : 'build with libsoup2')