diff --git a/cmd/alertmanager-bot/main.go b/cmd/alertmanager-bot/main.go
index c0110de..48c2d2b 100644
--- a/cmd/alertmanager-bot/main.go
+++ b/cmd/alertmanager-bot/main.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/alertmanager/template"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/promhttp"
+	"github.com/tucnak/telebot"
 	"gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
 )
 
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ func main() {
 		telegramAdmins []int
 		telegramToken  string
 		templatesPaths []string
+		parseMode      string
 	}{}
 
 	a := kingpin.New("alertmanager-bot", "Bot for Prometheus' Alertmanager")
@@ -117,6 +119,11 @@ func main() {
 		Default("/templates/default.tmpl").
 		ExistingFilesVar(&config.templatesPaths)
 
+	a.Flag("parse.mode", "The template formatting mode HTML/Markdown").
+		Envar("TEMPLATE_FORMAT").
+		Default(string(telebot.ModeHTML)).
+		EnumVar(&config.parseMode, string(telebot.ModeHTML), string(telebot.ModeMarkdown))
+
 	_, err := a.Parse(os.Args[1:])
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("error parsing commandline arguments: %v\n", err)
@@ -208,6 +215,7 @@ func main() {
 			telegram.WithRevision(Revision),
 			telegram.WithStartTime(StartTime),
 			telegram.WithExtraAdmins(config.telegramAdmins[1:]...),
+			telegram.WithParseMode(config.parseMode),
 		)
 		if err != nil {
 			level.Error(tlogger).Log("msg", "failed to create bot", "err", err)
diff --git a/pkg/telegram/bot.go b/pkg/telegram/bot.go
index 215c58f..b1ace94 100644
--- a/pkg/telegram/bot.go
+++ b/pkg/telegram/bot.go
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ type Bot struct {
 	logger       log.Logger
 	revision     string
 	startTime    time.Time
+	parseMode    telebot.ParseMode
 
 	telegram *telebot.Bot
 
@@ -100,6 +101,7 @@ func NewBot(chats BotChatStore, token string, admin int, opts ...BotOption) (*Bo
 		admins:          []int{admin},
 		alertmanager:    &url.URL{Host: "localhost:9093"},
 		commandsCounter: commandsCounter,
+		parseMode:       telebot.ModeDefault,
 		// TODO: initialize templates with default?
 	}
 
@@ -161,6 +163,13 @@ func WithExtraAdmins(ids ...int) BotOption {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithParseMode sets the alerts parsing mode (HTML/MarkDown)
+func WithParseMode(pm string) BotOption {
+	return func(b *Bot) {
+		b.parseMode = telebot.ParseMode(pm)
+	}
+}
+
 // SendAdminMessage to the admin's ID with a message
 func (b *Bot) SendAdminMessage(adminID int, message string) {
 	b.telegram.SendMessage(telebot.User{ID: adminID}, message, nil)
@@ -288,14 +297,19 @@ func (b *Bot) sendWebhook(ctx context.Context, webhooks <-chan notify.WebhookMes
 				ExternalURL:       w.ExternalURL,
 			}
 
-			out, err := b.templates.ExecuteHTMLString(`{{ template "telegram.default" . }}`, data)
+			out := ""
+			if b.parseMode == telebot.ModeMarkdown {
+				out, err = b.templates.ExecuteTextString(`{{ template "telegram.default" . }}`, data)
+			} else {
+				out, err = b.templates.ExecuteHTMLString(`{{ template "telegram.default" . }}`, data)
+			}
 			if err != nil {
 				level.Warn(b.logger).Log("msg", "failed to template alerts", "err", err)
 				continue
 			}
 
 			for _, chat := range chats {
-				err = b.telegram.SendMessage(chat, b.truncateMessage(out), &telebot.SendOptions{ParseMode: telebot.ModeHTML})
+				err = b.telegram.SendMessage(chat, b.truncateMessage(out), &telebot.SendOptions{ParseMode: b.parseMode})
 				if err != nil {
 					level.Warn(b.logger).Log("msg", "failed to send message to subscribed chat", "err", err)
 				}