diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/config/KustvaktConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/config/KustvaktConfiguration.java
index cb1cde5..1647e41 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/config/KustvaktConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/config/KustvaktConfiguration.java
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@
     // EM: metadata restriction
     // another variable might be needed to define which metadata fields are restricted 
     private boolean isMetadataRestricted = false;
+    private boolean totalResultCacheEnabled;
 
     // EM: Maybe needed when we support pipe registration
     @Deprecated
@@ -220,6 +221,9 @@
 
         // network endpoint
         networkEndpointURL = properties.getProperty("network.endpoint.url", "");
+        // cache
+        totalResultCacheEnabled = Boolean.valueOf(properties.getProperty(
+                "cache.total.results.enabled","true"));
     }
 
     @Deprecated
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/core/service/SearchService.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/core/service/SearchService.java
index e616295..5972577 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/core/service/SearchService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/core/service/SearchService.java
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
 
         int hashedKoralQuery = createTotalResultCacheKey(query);
         boolean hasCutOff = hasCutOff(query);
-        if (!hasCutOff) {
+        if (config.isTotalResultCacheEnabled() && !hasCutOff) {
             query = precheckTotalResultCache(hashedKoralQuery, query);
         }
 
@@ -229,7 +229,10 @@
         }
         // jlog.debug("Query result: " + result);
 
-        result = afterCheckTotalResultCache(hashedKoralQuery, result);
+        if (config.isTotalResultCacheEnabled()) {
+            result = afterCheckTotalResultCache(hashedKoralQuery, result);
+        }
+        
         if (!hasCutOff) {
             result = removeCutOff(result);
         }
@@ -248,7 +251,7 @@
             throws KustvaktException {
         ObjectNode queryNode = (ObjectNode) JsonUtils.readTree(query);
         queryNode.remove("meta");
-        return queryNode.hashCode();
+        return queryNode.toString().hashCode();
     }
 
     private String afterCheckTotalResultCache (int hashedKoralQuery,