diff --git a/src/vt/configs/arguments/app_config.h b/src/vt/configs/arguments/app_config.h
index 15f8f55b49..986e0074b5 100644
--- a/src/vt/configs/arguments/app_config.h
+++ b/src/vt/configs/arguments/app_config.h
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ struct AppConfig {
   bool vt_print_memory_at_threshold   = false;
   std::string vt_print_memory_threshold = "1 GiB";
   int32_t vt_print_memory_sched_poll    = 100;
+  bool vt_print_memory_footprint  = false;
 
   bool vt_no_warn_stack     = false;
   bool vt_no_assert_stack   = false;
@@ -249,6 +250,7 @@ struct AppConfig {
       | vt_print_memory_at_threshold
       | vt_print_memory_threshold
       | vt_print_memory_sched_poll
+      | vt_print_memory_footprint
 
       | vt_no_warn_stack
       | vt_no_assert_stack
diff --git a/src/vt/configs/arguments/args.cc b/src/vt/configs/arguments/args.cc
index 355db84ba6..a45290ffee 100644
--- a/src/vt/configs/arguments/args.cc
+++ b/src/vt/configs/arguments/args.cc
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ void ArgConfig::addMemUsageArgs(CLI::App& app) {
   auto mem_at_thresh = "Print memory usage from scheduler when reaches a threshold increment";
   auto mem_thresh    = "The threshold increments to print memory usage: \"<value> {GiB,MiB,KiB,B}\"";
   auto mem_sched     = "The frequency to query the memory threshold check (some memory reporters might be expensive)";
+  auto mem_footprint = "Print live components' memory footprint after initialization and before shutdown";
   auto mm = app.add_option("--vt_memory_reporters",          config_.vt_memory_reporters, mem_desc, true);
   auto mn = app.add_flag("--vt_print_memory_each_phase",     config_.vt_print_memory_each_phase, mem_phase);
   auto mo = app.add_option("--vt_print_memory_node",         config_.vt_print_memory_node, mem_node, true);
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ void ArgConfig::addMemUsageArgs(CLI::App& app) {
   auto mq = app.add_flag("--vt_print_memory_at_threshold",   config_.vt_print_memory_at_threshold, mem_at_thresh);
   auto mr = app.add_option("--vt_print_memory_threshold",    config_.vt_print_memory_threshold, mem_thresh, true);
   auto ms = app.add_option("--vt_print_memory_sched_poll",   config_.vt_print_memory_sched_poll, mem_sched, true);
+  auto mf = app.add_flag("--vt_print_memory_footprint", config_.vt_print_memory_footprint, mem_footprint);
   auto memoryGroup = "Memory Usage Reporting";
   mm->group(memoryGroup);
   mn->group(memoryGroup);
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ void ArgConfig::addMemUsageArgs(CLI::App& app) {
   mq->group(memoryGroup);
   mr->group(memoryGroup);
   ms->group(memoryGroup);
+  mf->group(memoryGroup);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/vt/runtime/runtime.cc b/src/vt/runtime/runtime.cc
index dccc617869..fd646e7483 100644
--- a/src/vt/runtime/runtime.cc
+++ b/src/vt/runtime/runtime.cc
@@ -441,7 +441,9 @@ bool Runtime::finalize(bool const force_now, bool const disable_sig) {
     }
 #   endif
 
-    printMemoryFootprint();
+    if (getAppConfig()->vt_print_memory_footprint) {
+      printMemoryFootprint();
+    }
 
     auto const& num_units = theTerm->getNumUnits();
     auto const coll_epochs = theTerm->getNumTerminatedCollectiveEpochs();
diff --git a/src/vt/runtime/runtime_banner.cc b/src/vt/runtime/runtime_banner.cc
index 90edc90a98..a89bb29894 100644
--- a/src/vt/runtime/runtime_banner.cc
+++ b/src/vt/runtime/runtime_banner.cc
@@ -855,7 +855,9 @@ void Runtime::printStartupBanner() {
     }
   }
 
-  printMemoryFootprint();
+  if (getAppConfig()->vt_print_memory_footprint) {
+    printMemoryFootprint();
+  }
 
   //fmt::print("{}\n", reset);
   fmt::print(reset);