diff --git a/lisp/org-macro.el b/lisp/org-macro.el
index f914a33d6..311eaf9a5 100644
--- a/lisp/org-macro.el
+++ b/lisp/org-macro.el
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ directly, use instead:
 
   #+MACRO: name template")
 
+(defvar org-macro-arg-sep-other "'@")
+
 ;;; Functions
 
 (defun org-macro--set-template (name value templates)
@@ -277,15 +279,19 @@ Return a list of arguments, as strings.  This is the opposite of
 `org-macro-escape-arguments'."
   ;; Do not use `org-split-string' since empty strings are
   ;; meaningful here.
+  (let ((sep (cond ((eq org-startup-macro-arg-sep 'comma)
+		      ",")
+		     ((eq org-startup-macro-arg-sep 'other)
+		      org-macro-arg-sep-other))))
   (split-string
    (replace-regexp-in-string
-    "\\(\\\\*\\),"
+     (format "\\(\\\\*\\)%s" sep)
     (lambda (str)
       (let ((len (length (match-string 1 str))))
 	(concat (make-string (/ len 2) ?\\)
-		(if (zerop (mod len 2)) "\000" ","))))
+		(if (zerop (mod len 2)) "\000" (format "%s" sep)))))
     s nil t)
-   "\000"))
+   "\000")))
 
 
 ;;; Helper functions and variables for internal macros
diff --git a/lisp/org.el b/lisp/org.el
index 7d8733448..a51893ed3 100644
--- a/lisp/org.el
+++ b/lisp/org.el
@@ -974,6 +974,15 @@ case it is too late to set the variable `org-startup-truncated'."
   :group 'org-startup
   :type 'boolean)
 
+(defcustom org-startup-macro-arg-sep 'comma
+    "TODO"
+    :group 'org-startup
+    :package-version '(Org . "9.0")
+    :version "26.1"
+    :type '(choice
+	    (const :tag "comma" comma)
+	    (const :tag "other" other)))
+
 (defcustom org-startup-indented nil
   "Non-nil means turn on `org-indent-mode' on startup.
 This can also be configured on a per-file basis by adding one of
@@ -4187,7 +4196,8 @@ After a match, the following groups carry important information:
     ("nohideblocks" org-hide-block-startup nil)
     ("beamer" org-startup-with-beamer-mode t)
     ("entitiespretty" org-pretty-entities t)
-    ("entitiesplain" org-pretty-entities nil))
+    ("entitiesplain" org-pretty-entities nil)
+    ("macro-arg-sep-other" org-startup-macro-arg-sep other))
   "Variable associated with STARTUP options for Org.
 Each element is a list of three items: the startup options (as written
 in the #+STARTUP line), the corresponding variable, and the value to set