diff --git a/.github/actions/test/action.yml b/.github/actions/test/action.yml
index 739a60bc9..84860f248 100644
--- a/.github/actions/test/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/test/action.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ inputs:
     description: "The Subdomain URL of the IPFS Gateway implementation to be tested."
     default: "http://example.com"
     required: false
+  enable-kubo-localhost-subdomains:
+    description: "When set to `false`, the action will disable the querying of `localhost` (without a port) for subdomains."
+    default: "true"
+    required: false
   accept-test-failure:
     # see https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/15452
     description: "When set to `true`, the action will not fail (become red) if the tests fail. Use the reports to determine the outcome of the tests."
@@ -46,6 +50,7 @@ runs:
       env:
         URL: ${{ inputs.gateway-url }}
         SUBDOMAIN: ${{ inputs.subdomain-url }}
+        ENABLE_KUBO_LOCALHOST_SUBDOMAINS: ${{ inputs.enable-kubo-localhost-subdomains }}
         JSON: ${{ inputs.json }}
         SPECS: ${{ inputs.specs }}
         JOB_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}
@@ -55,7 +60,7 @@ runs:
         dockerfile: Dockerfile
         allow-exit-codes: ${{ inputs.accept-test-failure == 'false' && '0' || '0,1' }}
         opts: --network=host
-        args: test --url="$URL" --json="$JSON" --specs="$SPECS" --subdomain-url="$SUBDOMAIN" --job-url="$JOB_URL" -- ${{ inputs.args }}
+        args: test --url="$URL" --json="$JSON" --specs="$SPECS" --subdomain-url="$SUBDOMAIN" --job-url="$JOB_URL" --enable-kubo-localhost-subdomains="$ENABLE_KUBO_LOCALHOST_SUBDOMAINS" -- ${{ inputs.args }}
         build-args: |
           VERSION:${{ steps.github.outputs.action_ref }}
     - name: Create the XML
@@ -87,4 +92,4 @@ runs:
       run: |
         # TODO: checkout here.
         wget 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/singulargarden/gateway-conformance/main/munge.js' -O munge.js
-        cat "${JSON}" | node munge.js > "${REPORT}"
\ No newline at end of file
+        cat "${JSON}" | node munge.js > "${REPORT}"
diff --git a/cmd/gateway-conformance/main.go b/cmd/gateway-conformance/main.go
index 994ea8455..d7ab0ea89 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway-conformance/main.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway-conformance/main.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ func copyFiles(inputPaths []string, outputDirectoryPath string) error {
 func main() {
 	var gatewayURL string
 	var subdomainGatewayURL string
+	var enableKuboLocalhostSubdomains bool
 	var jsonOutput string
 	var jobURL string
 	var specs string
@@ -101,6 +102,12 @@ func main() {
 						Value:       "http://example.com",
 						Destination: &subdomainGatewayURL,
 					},
+					&cli.BoolFlag{
+						Name:        "enable-kubo-localhost-subdomains",
+						Usage:       "Enable testing subdomains by querying no-port 'localhost' which depends on setting Kubo's `Gateway.PublicGateways` config.",
+						Value:       true,
+						Destination: &enableKuboLocalhostSubdomains,
+					},
 					&cli.StringFlag{
 						Name:        "json-output",
 						Aliases:     []string{"json", "j"},
@@ -150,6 +157,9 @@ func main() {
 					if subdomainGatewayURL != "" {
 						cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, fmt.Sprintf("SUBDOMAIN_GATEWAY_URL=%s", subdomainGatewayURL))
 					}
+					if enableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+						cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, fmt.Sprintf("ENABLE_KUBO_LOCALHOST_SUBDOMAINS=%t", enableKuboLocalhostSubdomains))
+					}
 
 					cmd.Stdout = out{
 						Writer: output,
diff --git a/docs/commands.md b/docs/commands.md
index 58f60c555..5b9de8557 100644
--- a/docs/commands.md
+++ b/docs/commands.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ The `test` command is the main command of the tool. It is used to test a given I
 |---|---|---|---|
 | gateway-url | Both | The URL of the IPFS Gateway implementation to be tested. | http://localhost:8080 |
 | subdomain-url | Both | The URL to be used in Subdomain feature tests based on Host HTTP header. | http://example.com |
+| enable-kubo-localhost-subdomains | Both | If you cannot listen on `localhost` for subdomains like Kubo does, set this to false | `true` |
 | json | Both | The path where the JSON test report should be generated. | `./report.json` |
 | xml | GitHub Action | The path where the JUnit XML test report should be generated. | `./report.xml` |
 | html | GitHub Action | The path where the one-page HTML test report should be generated. | `./report.html` |
diff --git a/tests/redirects_file_test.go b/tests/redirects_file_test.go
index c9f7eca3e..a99a26eea 100644
--- a/tests/redirects_file_test.go
+++ b/tests/redirects_file_test.go
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ func TestRedirectsFileSupport(t *testing.T) {
 	// We're going to run the same test against multiple gateways (localhost, and a subdomain gateway)
 	gatewayURLs := []string{
 		SubdomainGatewayURL,
-		SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL,
+	}
+	if EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+		gatewayURLs = append(gatewayURLs, SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL)
 	}
 
 	for _, gatewayURL := range gatewayURLs {
diff --git a/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipfs_test.go b/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipfs_test.go
index f0a61c69f..25d8f909e 100644
--- a/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipfs_test.go
+++ b/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipfs_test.go
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ func TestUnixFSDirectoryListingOnSubdomainGateway(t *testing.T) {
 	// We're going to run the same test against multiple gateways (localhost, and a subdomain gateway)
 	gatewayURLs := []string{
 		SubdomainGatewayURL,
-		SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL,
+	}
+
+	if EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+		gatewayURLs = append(gatewayURLs, SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL)
 	}
 
 	tests := SugarTests{}
@@ -128,7 +131,10 @@ func TestGatewaySubdomains(t *testing.T) {
 	// We're going to run the same test against multiple gateways (localhost, and a subdomain gateway)
 	gatewayURLs := []string{
 		SubdomainGatewayURL,
-		SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL,
+	}
+
+	if EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+		gatewayURLs = append(gatewayURLs, SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL)
 	}
 
 	for _, gatewayURL := range gatewayURLs {
@@ -141,7 +147,7 @@ func TestGatewaySubdomains(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				Name: "request for example.com/ipfs/{CIDv1} redirects to subdomain",
 				Hint: `
-					path requests to gateways with subdomain support 
+					path requests to gateways with subdomain support
      					should not return payload directly,
 					but redirect to URL with proper origin isolation
 				`,
@@ -166,7 +172,7 @@ func TestGatewaySubdomains(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				Name: "request for example.com/ipfs/{DirCID} redirects to subdomain",
 				Hint: `
-					path requests to gateways with subdomain support 
+					path requests to gateways with subdomain support
      					should not return payload directly,
 					but redirect to URL with proper origin isolation
 				`,
diff --git a/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipns_test.go b/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipns_test.go
index 58211eacc..19dd266be 100644
--- a/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipns_test.go
+++ b/tests/subdomain_gateway_ipns_test.go
@@ -29,7 +29,10 @@ func TestGatewaySubdomainAndIPNS(t *testing.T) {
 	// We're going to run the same test against multiple gateways (localhost, and a subdomain gateway)
 	gatewayURLs := []string{
 		SubdomainGatewayURL,
-		SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL,
+	}
+
+	if EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+		gatewayURLs = append(gatewayURLs, SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL)
 	}
 
 	ipnsRecords := []*ipns.IpnsRecord{
@@ -169,7 +172,10 @@ func TestSubdomainGatewayDNSLinkInlining(t *testing.T) {
 	// We're going to run the same test against multiple gateways (localhost, and a subdomain gateway)
 	gatewayURLs := []string{
 		SubdomainGatewayURL,
-		SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL,
+	}
+
+	if EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains {
+		gatewayURLs = append(gatewayURLs, SubdomainLocalhostGatewayURL)
 	}
 
 	dnsLinks := dnslink.MustOpenDNSLink("subdomain_gateway/dnslink.yml")
diff --git a/tooling/test/config.go b/tooling/test/config.go
index 506c03785..31abe947f 100644
--- a/tooling/test/config.go
+++ b/tooling/test/config.go
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ var SubdomainGatewayURL = strings.TrimRight(
 	GetEnv("SUBDOMAIN_GATEWAY_URL", "http://example.com"),
 	"/")
 
+// EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains is a flag that enables testing subdomains by querying no-port 'localhost'
+// you can read more about why this is needed at https://github.com/ipfs/gateway-conformance/issues/185#issuecomment-2127598223
+// default is true
+var EnableKuboLocalhostSubdomains = GetEnv("ENABLE_KUBO_LOCALHOST_SUBDOMAINS", "true") == "true"
+
 var GatewayHost = ""
 var SubdomainGatewayHost = ""
 var SubdomainGatewayScheme = ""