diff --git a/docs/src/get-started/installation.rst b/docs/src/get-started/installation.rst
index 62e4571a4..da6bea8f7 100644
--- a/docs/src/get-started/installation.rst
+++ b/docs/src/get-started/installation.rst
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ The build and installation can be configures with a few cmake options, using
 | FEATOMIC_FETCH_METATENSOR            | Automatically fetch, build and install        | OFF            |
 |                                      | metatensor (a dependency of featomic)         |                |
 +--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------------+
+| FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR       | Link against the static version of            | OFF            |
+|                                      | metatensor. You should only use this if you   |                |
+|                                      | know your code will never be loaded with      |                |
+|                                      | together with another library using           |                |
+|                                      | metatensor, for example if you are building   |                |
+|                                      | a fully static executable.                    |                |
++--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------------+
 
 Using the Rust library
 ----------------------
diff --git a/featomic/CMakeLists.txt b/featomic/CMakeLists.txt
index f5e334208..1d04698d9 100644
--- a/featomic/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/featomic/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ set(PROJECT_VERSION ${FEATOMIC_FULL_VERSION})
 # an installed library (see cmake/featomic-config.cmake)
 option(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS "Use a shared library by default instead of a static one" ON)
 option(FEATOMIC_INSTALL_BOTH_STATIC_SHARED "Install both shared and static libraries" ON)
+option(FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR "Link featomic with the static metatensor library instead of the shared one" OFF)
 
 set(BIN_INSTALL_DIR "bin" CACHE PATH "Path relative to CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX where to install binaries/DLL")
 set(LIB_INSTALL_DIR "lib" CACHE PATH "Path relative to CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX where to install libraries")
@@ -384,8 +385,14 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 add_dependencies(cargo-build-featomic metatensor)
-target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
-target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+
+if (FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR)
+    target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::static)
+    target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::static)
+else()
+    target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+    target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+endif()
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
 # Installation configuration
diff --git a/featomic/Cargo.toml b/featomic/Cargo.toml
index a6dfe1ff8..cc73b0b9a 100644
--- a/featomic/Cargo.toml
+++ b/featomic/Cargo.toml
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ rayon-core = "=1.12"
 
 log = "0.4"
 once_cell = "1"
-indexmap = "2"
+# the last version that supports Rust 1.74
+indexmap = "=2.11.4"
 thread_local = "1.1"
 time-graph = "0.3.0"
 
@@ -47,6 +48,11 @@ chemfiles = { version = "0.10", optional = true, features = ["build-from-sources
 
 approx = "0.5"
 
+# the last versions that supports Rust 1.74
+serde_spanned = "=1.0.1"
+toml_datetime = "=0.7.1"
+toml_parser = "=1.0.2"
+
 [build-dependencies]
 cbindgen = { version = "0.29", default-features = false }
 fs_extra = "1"
diff --git a/featomic/cmake/featomic-config.in.cmake b/featomic/cmake/featomic-config.in.cmake
index 67db28f3e..5a22e6879 100644
--- a/featomic/cmake/featomic-config.in.cmake
+++ b/featomic/cmake/featomic-config.in.cmake
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ endif()
 
 enable_language(CXX)
 
+if(NOT DEFINED FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR)
+    set(FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR OFF CACHE BOOL "Link featomic with static metatensor by default")
+endif()
+
 get_filename_component(FEATOMIC_PREFIX_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/@PACKAGE_RELATIVE_PATH@" ABSOLUTE)
 
 if (WIN32)
@@ -38,7 +42,12 @@ if (@FEATOMIC_INSTALL_BOTH_STATIC_SHARED@ OR @BUILD_SHARED_LIBS@)
         INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES ${FEATOMIC_INCLUDE}
         BUILD_VERSION "@FEATOMIC_FULL_VERSION@"
     )
-    target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+
+    if (FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR)
+        target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::static)
+    else()
+        target_link_libraries(featomic::shared INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+    endif()
 
     target_compile_features(featomic::shared INTERFACE cxx_std_17)
 
@@ -67,7 +76,12 @@ if (@FEATOMIC_INSTALL_BOTH_STATIC_SHARED@ OR NOT @BUILD_SHARED_LIBS@)
         INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "@CARGO_DEFAULT_LIBRARIES@"
         BUILD_VERSION "@FEATOMIC_FULL_VERSION@"
     )
-    target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+
+    if (FEATOMIC_USE_STATIC_METATENSOR)
+        target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::static)
+    else()
+        target_link_libraries(featomic::static INTERFACE metatensor::shared)
+    endif()
 
     target_compile_features(featomic::static INTERFACE cxx_std_17)
 endif()
diff --git a/featomic/tests/cmake-project/CMakeLists.txt b/featomic/tests/cmake-project/CMakeLists.txt
index d06d82361..679e86aef 100644
--- a/featomic/tests/cmake-project/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/featomic/tests/cmake-project/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,13 @@ string(REGEX REPLACE "([0-9]*)\\.([0-9]*).*" "\\1.\\2" REQUIRED_FEATOMIC_VERSION
 find_package(featomic ${REQUIRED_FEATOMIC_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 
 add_executable(c-main main.c)
-target_link_libraries(c-main featomic)
+target_link_libraries(c-main featomic::shared)
+
+add_executable(c-main-static main.c)
+target_link_libraries(c-main-static featomic::static)
 
 add_executable(cxx-main main.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(cxx-main featomic)
+target_link_libraries(cxx-main featomic::shared)
+
+add_executable(cxx-main-static main.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(cxx-main-static featomic::static)