diff --git a/src/__tests__/role.js b/src/__tests__/role.js
index 58685d76..a187a77b 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/role.js
+++ b/src/__tests__/role.js
@@ -343,6 +343,12 @@ Here are the accessible roles:
 `)
 })
 
+test('has no useful error message in findBy', async () => {
+  const {findByRole} = render(`<li />`)
+
+  await expect(findByRole('option', {timeout: 1})).rejects.toThrow('Unable to find role="option"')
+})
+
 test('explicit role is most specific', () => {
   const {getByRole} = renderIntoDocument(
     `<button role="tab" aria-label="my-tab" />`,
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 248c9008..c93ad92e 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ let config = {
     error.name = 'TestingLibraryElementError'
     return error
   },
+  _disableExpensiveErrorDiagnostics: false,
+}
+
+export function runWithExpensiveErrorDiagnosticsDisabled(callback) {
+  try {
+    config._disableExpensiveErrorDiagnostics = true
+    return callback()
+  } finally {
+    config._disableExpensiveErrorDiagnostics = false
+  }
 }
 
 export function configure(newConfig) {
diff --git a/src/queries/role.js b/src/queries/role.js
index b0e4c4f5..f7eeff18 100644
--- a/src/queries/role.js
+++ b/src/queries/role.js
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ const getMissingError = (
   role,
   {hidden = getConfig().defaultHidden, name} = {},
 ) => {
+  if (getConfig()._disableExpensiveErrorDiagnostics) {
+    return `Unable to find role="${role}"`
+  }
+
   let roles = ''
   Array.from(container.children).forEach(childElement => {
     roles += prettyRoles(childElement, {
diff --git a/src/wait-for.js b/src/wait-for.js
index 931a01a7..ea99eae6 100644
--- a/src/wait-for.js
+++ b/src/wait-for.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import {
   clearTimeout,
   runWithRealTimers,
 } from './helpers'
-import {getConfig} from './config'
+import {getConfig, runWithExpensiveErrorDiagnosticsDisabled} from './config'
 
 // This is so the stack trace the developer sees is one that's
 // closer to their code (because async stack traces are hard to follow).
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ function waitFor(
 
     function checkCallback() {
       try {
-        onDone(null, callback())
+        onDone(null, runWithExpensiveErrorDiagnosticsDisabled(callback))
         // If `callback` throws, wait for the next mutation or timeout.
       } catch (error) {
         // Save the callback error to reject the promise with it.