diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/graphframes/GraphFrame.scala b/src/main/scala/org/graphframes/GraphFrame.scala
index d6c6c73d7..64e22d095 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/org/graphframes/GraphFrame.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/graphframes/GraphFrame.scala
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ import org.graphframes.pattern._
  */
 class GraphFrame private(
     @transient private val _vertices: DataFrame,
-    @transient private val _edges: DataFrame) extends Logging with Serializable {
+    @transient private val _edges: DataFrame,
+    @transient private val _storageLevel: StorageLevel = StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK) extends Logging with Serializable {
 
   import GraphFrame._
 
@@ -480,7 +481,7 @@ class GraphFrame private(
         .distinct()
         .sortWithinPartitions(ID)
         .withColumn(LONG_ID, monotonically_increasing_id())
-        .persist(StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK)
+        .persist(_storageLevel)
       vertices.select(col(ID), nestAsCol(vertices, ATTR))
         .join(withLongIds, ID)
         .select(LONG_ID, ID, ATTR)
@@ -605,7 +606,7 @@ object GraphFrame extends Serializable with Logging {
    *           destination vertex IDs.  All other columns are treated as edge attributes.
    * @return  New [[GraphFrame]] instance
    */
-  def apply(vertices: DataFrame, edges: DataFrame): GraphFrame = {
+  def apply(vertices: DataFrame, edges: DataFrame, storageLevel: StorageLevel = StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK): GraphFrame = {
     require(vertices.columns.contains(ID),
       s"Vertex ID column '$ID' missing from vertex DataFrame, which has columns: "
         + vertices.columns.mkString(","))
@@ -616,7 +617,7 @@ object GraphFrame extends Serializable with Logging {
       s"Destination vertex ID column '$DST' missing from edge DataFrame, which has columns: "
         + edges.columns.mkString(","))
 
-    new GraphFrame(vertices, edges)
+    new GraphFrame(vertices, edges, storageLevel)
   }
 
   /**
@@ -631,12 +632,12 @@ object GraphFrame extends Serializable with Logging {
    *
    * @group conversions
    */
-  def fromEdges(e: DataFrame): GraphFrame = {
+  def fromEdges(e: DataFrame, storageLevel: StorageLevel = StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK): GraphFrame = {
     val srcs = e.select(e("src").as("id"))
     val dsts = e.select(e("dst").as("id"))
     val v = srcs.unionAll(dsts).distinct
-    v.persist(StorageLevel.MEMORY_AND_DISK)
-    apply(v, e)
+    v.persist(storageLevel)
+    apply(v, e, storageLevel)
   }
 
   /**