diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a109af1c..f017b571 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 * [CHANGE] Refactor mdadm collector #1403
 * [CHANGE] Add `mountaddr` label to NFS metrics. #1417
 * [CHANGE] Don't count empty collectors as success. #...
+* [FEATURE] New flag to disable default collectors #1276
 * [FEATURE] Add new schedstat collector #1389
 * [FEATURE] Add uname support for Darwin and OpenBSD #1433
 * [FEATURE] Add new metric node_cpu_info #1489
diff --git a/collector/collector.go b/collector/collector.go
index 0fec09c9..e9ea14c0 100644
--- a/collector/collector.go
+++ b/collector/collector.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
 	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log/level"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
-	"gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
+	kingpin "gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
 )
 
 // Namespace defines the common namespace to be used by all metrics.
@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@ const (
 )
 
 var (
-	factories      = make(map[string]func(logger log.Logger) (Collector, error))
-	collectorState = make(map[string]*bool)
+	factories        = make(map[string]func(logger log.Logger) (Collector, error))
+	collectorState   = make(map[string]*bool)
+	forcedCollectors = map[string]bool{} // collectors which have been explicitly enabled or disabled
 )
 
 func registerCollector(collector string, isDefaultEnabled bool, factory func(logger log.Logger) (Collector, error)) {
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ func registerCollector(collector string, isDefaultEnabled bool, factory func(log
 	flagHelp := fmt.Sprintf("Enable the %s collector (default: %s).", collector, helpDefaultState)
 	defaultValue := fmt.Sprintf("%v", isDefaultEnabled)
 
-	flag := kingpin.Flag(flagName, flagHelp).Default(defaultValue).Bool()
+	flag := kingpin.Flag(flagName, flagHelp).Default(defaultValue).Action(collectorFlagAction(collector)).Bool()
 	collectorState[collector] = flag
 
 	factories[collector] = factory
@@ -78,6 +79,28 @@ type NodeCollector struct {
 	logger     log.Logger
 }
 
+// DisableDefaultCollectors sets the collector state to false for all collectors which
+// have not been explicitly enabled on the command line.
+func DisableDefaultCollectors() {
+	for c := range collectorState {
+		if _, ok := forcedCollectors[c]; !ok {
+			*collectorState[c] = false
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// collectorFlagAction generates a new action function for the given collector
+// to track whether it has been explicitly enabled or disabled from the command line.
+// A new action function is needed for each collector flag because the ParseContext
+// does not contain information about which flag called the action.
+// See: https://github.com/alecthomas/kingpin/issues/294
+func collectorFlagAction(collector string) func(ctx *kingpin.ParseContext) error {
+	return func(ctx *kingpin.ParseContext) error {
+		forcedCollectors[collector] = true
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
 // NewNodeCollector creates a new NodeCollector.
 func NewNodeCollector(logger log.Logger, filters ...string) (*NodeCollector, error) {
 	f := make(map[string]bool)
diff --git a/node_exporter.go b/node_exporter.go
index 6e92cc39..88039bd6 100644
--- a/node_exporter.go
+++ b/node_exporter.go
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/version"
 	"github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/collector"
 	"github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/https"
-	"gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
+	kingpin "gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
 )
 
 // handler wraps an unfiltered http.Handler but uses a filtered handler,
@@ -153,6 +153,10 @@ func main() {
 			"web.max-requests",
 			"Maximum number of parallel scrape requests. Use 0 to disable.",
 		).Default("40").Int()
+		disableDefaultCollectors = kingpin.Flag(
+			"collector.disable-defaults",
+			"Set all collectors to disabled by default.",
+		).Default("false").Bool()
 		configFile = kingpin.Flag(
 			"web.config",
 			"Path to config yaml file that can enable TLS or authentication.",
@@ -166,6 +170,9 @@ func main() {
 	kingpin.Parse()
 	logger := promlog.New(promlogConfig)
 
+	if *disableDefaultCollectors {
+		collector.DisableDefaultCollectors()
+	}
 	level.Info(logger).Log("msg", "Starting node_exporter", "version", version.Info())
 	level.Info(logger).Log("msg", "Build context", "build_context", version.BuildContext())