diff --git a/crates/e2e/Cargo.toml b/crates/e2e/Cargo.toml
index 1e0b13f8f6b..1a84ff241f0 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/e2e/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ ink_primitives = { workspace = true, default-features = true }
 
 cargo_metadata = { workspace = true }
 contract-build = { workspace = true }
-drink = { workspace = true }
+drink = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 funty = { workspace = true }
 impl-serde = { workspace = true }
 jsonrpsee = { workspace = true, features = ["ws-client"] }
@@ -50,3 +50,7 @@ scale-info = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
 [features]
 default = ["std"]
 std = []
+drink = [
+    "dep:drink",
+    "ink_e2e_macro/drink",
+]
diff --git a/crates/e2e/macro/Cargo.toml b/crates/e2e/macro/Cargo.toml
index 68eca53f58f..fe6c1bca86a 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/macro/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/e2e/macro/Cargo.toml
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@ syn = { workspace = true }
 proc-macro2 = { workspace = true }
 quote = { workspace = true }
 which = { workspace = true }
+
+[features]
+drink = []
diff --git a/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs b/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
index 1d4e157d513..5ab34fb8eb5 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/macro/src/codegen.rs
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ impl InkE2ETest {
 
         let client_building = match self.test.config.backend() {
             Backend::Full => build_full_client(&environment, exec_build_contracts),
+            #[cfg(any(test, feature = "drink"))]
             Backend::RuntimeOnly => build_runtime_client(exec_build_contracts),
         };
 
@@ -144,6 +145,7 @@ fn build_full_client(environment: &syn::Path, contracts: TokenStream2) -> TokenS
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(any(test, feature = "drink"))]
 fn build_runtime_client(contracts: TokenStream2) -> TokenStream2 {
     quote! {
         let contracts = #contracts;
diff --git a/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs b/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
index 200793de114..917fc50e90b 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/macro/src/config.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ pub enum Backend {
     ///
     /// This runs a runtime emulator within `TestExternalities` (using drink! library) in
     /// the same process as the test.
+    #[cfg(any(test, feature = "drink"))]
     RuntimeOnly,
 }
 
@@ -38,7 +39,15 @@ impl TryFrom<syn::LitStr> for Backend {
     fn try_from(value: syn::LitStr) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
         match value.value().as_str() {
             "full" => Ok(Self::Full),
+            #[cfg(any(test, feature = "drink"))]
             "runtime_only" | "runtime-only" => Ok(Self::RuntimeOnly),
+            #[cfg(not(any(test, feature = "drink")))]
+            "runtime_only" | "runtime-only" => Err(
+                format_err_spanned!(
+                    value,
+                    "the `runtime-only` backend is not available because the `drink` feature is not enabled",
+                )
+            ),
             _ => {
                 Err(format_err_spanned!(
                     value,
diff --git a/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs b/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
index 2a09ba6d6bb..8cfcf81ac80 100644
--- a/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/e2e/src/lib.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ mod builders;
 mod client_utils;
 mod contract_build;
 mod contract_results;
+#[cfg(feature = "drink")]
 mod drink_client;
 mod error;
 pub mod events;
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ pub use contract_results::{
     InstantiationResult,
     UploadResult,
 };
+#[cfg(feature = "drink")]
 pub use drink_client::Client as DrinkClient;
 pub use ink_e2e_macro::test;
 pub use node_proc::{
diff --git a/integration-tests/e2e-runtime-only-backend/Cargo.toml b/integration-tests/e2e-runtime-only-backend/Cargo.toml
index 33ea407c48b..ef9c7871a1b 100644
--- a/integration-tests/e2e-runtime-only-backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/integration-tests/e2e-runtime-only-backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ scale = { package = "parity-scale-codec", version = "3", default-features = fals
 scale-info = { version = "2.6", default-features = false, features = ["derive"], optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-ink_e2e = { path = "../../crates/e2e" }
+ink_e2e = { path = "../../crates/e2e", features = ["drink"] }
 
 [lib]
 path = "lib.rs"