diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e0e3f63f6..d14401c87 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Fixed
+- [cpp] Allow building tests with system GTest when fetching dependencies is disabled. ([#483](https://github.com/cucumber/messages/pull/483))
 
 ## [34.0.2] - 2026-07-13
 ### Added
diff --git a/cpp/cmake/dependencies.cpm.cmake b/cpp/cmake/dependencies.cpm.cmake
index ef399df52..a2f332eee 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake/dependencies.cpm.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake/dependencies.cpm.cmake
@@ -59,4 +59,8 @@ if(CUCUMBER_MESSAGES_FETCH_DEPS)
     endif()
 else()
     find_package(nlohmann_json ${NLOHMANN_JSON_VERSION} REQUIRED)
+
+    if (CUCUMBER_MESSAGES_BUILD_TESTS)
+        find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
+    endif()
 endif()