diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9dc7caeda..27c463b9a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ option(NS3_CLANG_TIDY "Use clang-tidy static analysis" OFF)
 option(NS3_CLANG_TIMETRACE
        "Collect compilation statistics to analyze the build process" OFF
 )
+option(NS3_COLORED_OUTPUT "Colorize CMake messages" OFF)
 option(NS3_COVERAGE "Enable code coverage measurements and report generation"
        OFF
 )
diff --git a/build-support/3rd-party/colored-messages.cmake b/build-support/3rd-party/colored-messages.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb7e69ef4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-support/3rd-party/colored-messages.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2013 Fraser Hutchison
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+# the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
+# Software Foundation;
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+# FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
+# details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+# this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple
+# Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307 USA
+# cmake-format: off
+#
+# Author: Fraser Hutchison <fraser@casperlabs.io>
+# Modified by: Gabriel Ferreira <gabrielcarvfer@gmail.com>
+#
+# Original code:
+#  https://stackoverflow.com/a/19578320
+# Used with permission of the author:
+#  https://gitlab.com/nsnam/ns-3-dev/-/merge_requests/913#note_884829396
+# cmake-format: on
+
+# Set empty values for colors
+set(ColourReset)
+set(Red)
+set(Green)
+set(Yellow)
+set(Blue)
+set(Magenta)
+set(Cyan)
+set(White)
+set(BoldRed)
+set(BoldGreen)
+set(BoldYellow)
+set(BoldBlue)
+set(BoldMagenta)
+set(BoldCyan)
+set(BoldWhite)
+
+# Custom message types fallback when not colorized
+set(HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS STATUS)
+
+if(${NS3_COLORED_OUTPUT} OR "$ENV{CLICOLOR}")
+  if(NOT WIN32)
+    # When colorized, set color values
+    string(ASCII 27 Esc)
+    set(ColourReset "${Esc}[0m")
+    set(ColourBold "${Esc}[1m")
+    set(Red "${Esc}[31m")
+    set(Green "${Esc}[32m")
+    set(Yellow "${Esc}[33m")
+    set(Blue "${Esc}[34m")
+    set(Magenta "${Esc}[35m")
+    set(Cyan "${Esc}[36m")
+    set(White "${Esc}[37m")
+    set(BoldRed "${Esc}[1;31m")
+    set(BoldGreen "${Esc}[1;32m")
+    set(BoldYellow "${Esc}[1;33m")
+    set(BoldBlue "${Esc}[1;34m")
+    set(BoldMagenta "${Esc}[1;35m")
+    set(BoldCyan "${Esc}[1;36m")
+    set(BoldWhite "${Esc}[1;37m")
+  endif()
+
+  # Set custom message type when colorized
+  set(HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS)
+
+  # Replace the default message macro with a custom colored one
+  function(message)
+    list(GET ARGV 0 MessageType)
+    if((${MessageType} STREQUAL FATAL_ERROR) OR (${MessageType} STREQUAL
+                                                 SEND_ERROR)
+    )
+      list(REMOVE_AT ARGV 0)
+      _message(${MessageType} "${BoldRed}${ARGV}${ColourReset}")
+    elseif(MessageType STREQUAL WARNING)
+      list(REMOVE_AT ARGV 0)
+      _message(${MessageType} "${BoldYellow}${ARGV}${ColourReset}")
+    elseif(MessageType STREQUAL AUTHOR_WARNING)
+      list(REMOVE_AT ARGV 0)
+      _message(${MessageType} "${BoldCyan}${ARGV}${ColourReset}")
+    elseif(MessageType STREQUAL HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS) # Custom message type
+      list(REMOVE_AT ARGV 0)
+      _message(STATUS "${Yellow}${ARGV}${ColourReset}")
+    elseif(MessageType STREQUAL STATUS)
+      list(REMOVE_AT ARGV 0)
+      _message(${MessageType} "${ARGV}")
+    else()
+      _message(${ARGV})
+    endif()
+  endfunction()
+endif()
diff --git a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-configtable.cmake b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-configtable.cmake
index 924ab863d..df276b970 100644
--- a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-configtable.cmake
+++ b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-configtable.cmake
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@
 macro(check_on_or_off user_config_switch confirmation_flag)
   if(${user_config_switch})
     if(${confirmation_flag})
-      string(APPEND out "ON\n")
+      string(APPEND out "${Green}ON${ColourReset}\n")
     else()
-      string(APPEND out "OFF (missing dependency)\n")
+      string(APPEND out "${Red}OFF (missing dependency)${ColourReset}\n")
     endif()
   else()
     string(APPEND out "OFF (not requested)\n")
diff --git a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-contributions.cmake b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-contributions.cmake
index 8d43e8478..77e7dbe63 100644
--- a/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-contributions.cmake
+++ b/build-support/custom-modules/ns3-contributions.cmake
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ macro(process_contribution contribution_list)
       message(STATUS "Processing ${folder}")
       add_subdirectory(${folder})
     else()
-      message(
-        STATUS "Skipping ${folder} : it does not contain a CMakeLists.txt file"
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "Skipping ${folder} : it does not contain a CMakeLists.txt file"
       )
     endif()
   endforeach()
diff --git a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
index 487969ebb..58a83f931 100644
--- a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
+++ b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ option(NS3_ENABLE_SUDO
        "Set executables ownership to root and enable the SUID flag" OFF
 )
 
+# Replace default CMake messages (logging) with custom colored messages as early
+# as possible
+include(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/build-support/3rd-party/colored-messages.cmake)
+
 # WSLv1 doesn't support tap features
 if(EXISTS "/proc/version")
   file(READ "/proc/version" CMAKE_LINUX_DISTRO)
@@ -171,6 +175,12 @@ if((NOT CLANG) AND ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "Clang"))
   set(CLANG TRUE)
 endif()
 
+if(CLANG)
+  if(${NS3_COLORED_OUTPUT} OR "$ENV{CLICOLOR}")
+    add_definitions(-fcolor-diagnostics) # colorize clang++ output
+  endif()
+endif()
+
 set(GCC FALSE)
 if("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "GNU")
   if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS ${GNU_MinVersion})
@@ -181,6 +191,9 @@ if("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" MATCHES "GNU")
   endif()
   set(GCC TRUE)
   add_definitions(-fno-semantic-interposition)
+  if(${NS3_COLORED_OUTPUT} OR "$ENV{CLICOLOR}")
+    add_definitions(-fdiagnostics-color=always) # colorize g++ output
+  endif()
 endif()
 unset(below_minimum_msg)
 
@@ -539,7 +552,7 @@ macro(process_options)
     if(${SQLite3_FOUND})
       set(ENABLE_SQLITE True)
     else()
-      message(STATUS "SQLite was not found")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS} "SQLite was not found")
     endif()
   endif()
 
@@ -616,17 +629,23 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_GTK3})
     find_package(HarfBuzz QUIET)
     if(NOT ${HarfBuzz_FOUND})
-      message(STATUS "Harfbuzz is required by GTK3 and was not found.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "Harfbuzz is required by GTK3 and was not found."
+      )
     else()
       set(CMAKE_SUPPRESS_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS 1 CACHE BOOL "")
       find_package(GTK3 QUIET)
       unset(CMAKE_SUPPRESS_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS CACHE)
       if(NOT ${GTK3_FOUND})
-        message(STATUS "GTK3 was not found. Continuing without it.")
+        message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+                "GTK3 was not found. Continuing without it."
+        )
       else()
         if(${GTK3_VERSION} VERSION_LESS 3.22)
           set(GTK3_FOUND FALSE)
-          message(STATUS "GTK3 found with incompatible version ${GTK3_VERSION}")
+          message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+                  "GTK3 found with incompatible version ${GTK3_VERSION}"
+          )
         else()
           message(STATUS "GTK3 was found.")
         endif()
@@ -648,7 +667,9 @@ macro(process_options)
   else()
     find_package(LibXml2 QUIET)
     if(NOT ${LIBXML2_FOUND})
-      message(STATUS "LibXML2 was not found. Continuing without it.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "LibXML2 was not found. Continuing without it."
+      )
     else()
       message(STATUS "LibXML2 was found.")
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_LIBXML2)
@@ -719,12 +740,14 @@ macro(process_options)
     if(${Python3_Development_FOUND})
       set(Python3_FOUND TRUE)
     else()
-      message(STATUS "Python: development libraries were not found")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "Python: development libraries were not found"
+      )
     endif()
   else()
     message(
-      STATUS
-        "Python: an incompatible version of Python was found, python bindings will be disabled"
+      ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+      "Python: an incompatible version of Python was found, python bindings will be disabled"
     )
   endif()
 
@@ -732,15 +755,15 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_PYTHON_BINDINGS})
     if(NOT ${Python3_FOUND})
       message(
-        STATUS
-          "Bindings: python bindings require Python, but it could not be found"
+        ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+        "Bindings: python bindings require Python, but it could not be found"
       )
     else()
       check_python_packages("pybindgen" missing_packages)
       if(missing_packages)
         message(
-          STATUS
-            "Bindings: python bindings disabled due to the following missing dependencies: ${missing_packages}"
+          ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+          "Bindings: python bindings disabled due to the following missing dependencies: ${missing_packages}"
         )
       else()
         set(ENABLE_PYTHON_BINDINGS ON)
@@ -757,8 +780,8 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_SCAN_PYTHON_BINDINGS})
     if(NOT ${Python3_FOUND})
       message(
-        STATUS
-          "Bindings: scanning python bindings require Python, but it could not be found"
+        ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+        "Bindings: scanning python bindings require Python, but it could not be found"
       )
     else()
       # Check if pybindgen, pygccxml, cxxfilt and castxml are installed
@@ -779,8 +802,8 @@ macro(process_options)
       # If packages were not found, print message
       if(missing_packages)
         message(
-          STATUS
-            "Bindings: scanning of python bindings disabled due to the following missing dependencies: ${missing_packages}"
+          ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+          "Bindings: scanning of python bindings disabled due to the following missing dependencies: ${missing_packages}"
         )
       else()
         set(ENABLE_SCAN_PYTHON_BINDINGS ON)
@@ -794,7 +817,7 @@ macro(process_options)
   set(ENABLE_VISUALIZER FALSE)
   if(${NS3_VISUALIZER})
     if((NOT ${ENABLE_PYTHON_BINDINGS}) OR (NOT ${Python3_FOUND}))
-      message(STATUS "Visualizer requires Python bindings")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS} "Visualizer requires Python bindings")
     else()
       set(ENABLE_VISUALIZER TRUE)
     endif()
@@ -803,8 +826,7 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_COVERAGE} AND (NOT ${ENABLE_TESTS} OR NOT ${ENABLE_EXAMPLES}))
     message(
       FATAL_ERROR
-        "Code coverage requires examples and tests.\n"
-        "Try reconfiguring CMake with -DNS3_TESTS=ON -DNS3_EXAMPLES=ON"
+        "Code coverage requires examples and tests.\nTry reconfiguring CMake with -DNS3_TESTS=ON -DNS3_EXAMPLES=ON"
     )
   endif()
 
@@ -834,7 +856,7 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_MPI})
     find_package(MPI QUIET)
     if(NOT ${MPI_FOUND})
-      message(STATUS "MPI was not found. Continuing without it.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS} "MPI was not found. Continuing without it.")
     else()
       message(STATUS "MPI was found.")
       add_definitions(-DNS3_MPI)
@@ -862,7 +884,7 @@ macro(process_options)
   if(${NS3_GSL})
     find_package(GSL QUIET)
     if(NOT ${GSL_FOUND})
-      message(STATUS "GSL was not found. Continuing without it.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS} "GSL was not found. Continuing without it.")
     else()
       message(STATUS "GSL was found.")
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_GSL)
@@ -873,7 +895,9 @@ macro(process_options)
     find_package(Gnuplot-ios) # Not sure what package would contain the correct
                               # header/library
     if(NOT ${GNUPLOT_FOUND})
-      message(STATUS "GNUPLOT was not found. Continuing without it.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "GNUPLOT was not found. Continuing without it."
+      )
     else()
       message(STATUS "GNUPLOT was found.")
       include_directories(${GNUPLOT_INCLUDE_DIRS})
@@ -888,8 +912,8 @@ macro(process_options)
   check_deps("" "doxygen;dot;dia" doxygen_docs_missing_deps)
   if(doxygen_docs_missing_deps)
     message(
-      STATUS
-        "docs: doxygen documentation not enabled due to missing dependencies: ${doxygen_docs_missing_deps}"
+      ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+      "docs: doxygen documentation not enabled due to missing dependencies: ${doxygen_docs_missing_deps}"
     )
     # cmake-format: off
     set(doxygen_missing_msg
@@ -992,8 +1016,8 @@ macro(process_options)
   )
   if(sphinx_docs_missing_deps)
     message(
-      STATUS
-        "docs: sphinx documentation not enabled due to missing dependencies: ${sphinx_docs_missing_deps}"
+      ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+      "docs: sphinx documentation not enabled due to missing dependencies: ${sphinx_docs_missing_deps}"
     )
     # cmake-format: off
     set(sphinx_missing_msg
@@ -1058,7 +1082,9 @@ macro(process_options)
     if(HAVE_UINT128_T OR HAVE___UINT128_T)
       set(INT64X64_USE_128 TRUE)
     else()
-      message(STATUS "Int128 was not found. Falling back to Cairo.")
+      message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+              "Int128 was not found. Falling back to Cairo."
+      )
       set(NS3_INT64X64 "CAIRO")
     endif()
   endif()
@@ -1328,23 +1354,36 @@ function(copy_headers_before_building_lib libname outputdir headers visibility)
   set(batch_symlinks)
   foreach(header ${headers})
     # Copy header to output directory on changes -> too darn slow
-    #configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header} ${outputdir}/ COPYONLY)
+    # configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header} ${outputdir}/
+    # COPYONLY)
 
     get_filename_component(
-            header_name ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header}
-            NAME
+      header_name ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header} NAME
     )
-    # CMake 3.13 cannot create symlinks on Windows, so we use stub headers as a fallback
-    if (WIN32 AND (${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.13.0"))
-      # Create a stub header in the output directory, including the real header inside their
-      # respective module
+    # CMake 3.13 cannot create symlinks on Windows, so we use stub headers as a
+    # fallback
+    if(WIN32 AND (${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.13.0"))
+      # Create a stub header in the output directory, including the real header
+      # inside their respective module
 
-      file(WRITE ${outputdir}/${header_name} "#include \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header}\"\n")
+      file(WRITE ${outputdir}/${header_name}
+           "#include \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header}\"\n"
+      )
     else()
-      # Create a symlink in the output directory to the original header
-      # Calling execute_process for each symlink is too slow too, so we create a batch with all headers
-      #execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header} ${outputdir}/${header_name})
-      set(batch_symlinks ${batch_symlinks} COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E create_symlink ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header} ${outputdir}/${header_name})
+      # Create a symlink in the output directory to the original header Calling
+      # execute_process for each symlink is too slow too, so we create a batch
+      # with all headers execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E
+      # create_symlink ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header}
+      # ${outputdir}/${header_name})
+      set(batch_symlinks
+          ${batch_symlinks}
+          COMMAND
+          ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
+          -E
+          create_symlink
+          ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${header}
+          ${outputdir}/${header_name}
+      )
     endif()
   endforeach()
 
@@ -1506,8 +1545,8 @@ function(recursive_dependency module_name)
     set(contrib TRUE)
   else()
     set(cmakelists_content "")
-    message(
-      STATUS "The CMakeLists.txt file for module ${module_name} was not found."
+    message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+            "The CMakeLists.txt file for module ${module_name} was not found."
     )
   endif()
 
@@ -1992,7 +2031,7 @@ function(find_external_library)
   endif()
 
   if(NOT ${FIND_LIB_QUIET})
-    message(STATUS "${status_message}")
+    message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS} "${status_message}")
   endif()
 endfunction()
 
diff --git a/ns3 b/ns3
index 514f38cc1..360f594f6 100755
--- a/ns3
+++ b/ns3
@@ -1125,6 +1125,9 @@ def main():
     # Refuse to run with sudo
     refuse_run_as_root()
 
+    # Enable colorized output for CMake and GCC/Clang
+    os.environ["CLICOLOR"] = "1"
+
     # Parse arguments
     args = parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
     atexit.register(exit_handler, dry_run=args.dry_run)
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 0cf84cf24..640bab2ab 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ foreach(libname ${libs})
     add_subdirectory(${libname})
   else()
     message(
-      STATUS
-        "Skipping src/${libname} : it does not contain a CMakeLists.txt file"
+      ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+      "Skipping src/${libname} : it does not contain a CMakeLists.txt file"
     )
   endif()
 endforeach()
diff --git a/src/brite/CMakeLists.txt b/src/brite/CMakeLists.txt
index c44985927..8ca0d591b 100644
--- a/src/brite/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/brite/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ if((NOT
    OR (NOT
        ${brite_FOUND})
 )
-  message(STATUS "Skipping src/brite")
+  message(
+    ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+    "Skipping src/brite"
+  )
   return()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/src/click/CMakeLists.txt b/src/click/CMakeLists.txt
index 7409033c7..f094a67cf 100644
--- a/src/click/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/click/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ if((NOT
    AND (NOT
         ${click_FOUND})
 )
-  message(STATUS "Skipping src/click")
+  message(
+    ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+    "Skipping src/click"
+  )
   return()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/src/openflow/CMakeLists.txt b/src/openflow/CMakeLists.txt
index ccdb9ce16..876c92509 100644
--- a/src/openflow/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/openflow/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ if((NOT
    AND (NOT
         ${openflow_FOUND})
 )
-  message(STATUS "Skipping src/openflow")
+  message(
+    ${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
+    "Skipping src/openflow"
+  )
   return()
 endif()