diff --git a/docs/configs/settings.md b/docs/configs/settings.md
index 2f387a65b..4e4bda81d 100644
--- a/docs/configs/settings.md
+++ b/docs/configs/settings.md
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ quicklaunch:
   suggestionUrl: https://ac.ecosia.org/autocomplete?type=list&q=
 ```
 
-## Homepage Version
+## Homepage Version & Update Checking
 
 By default the release version is displayed at the bottom of the page. To hide this, use the `hideVersion` setting, like so:
 
@@ -410,6 +410,12 @@ By default the release version is displayed at the bottom of the page. To hide t
 hideVersion: true
 ```
 
+You can disable checking for new versions from GitHub (enabled by default) with:
+
+```yaml
+disableUpdateCheck: true
+```
+
 ## Log Path
 
 By default the homepage logfile is written to the a `logs` subdirectory of the `config` folder. In order to customize this path, you can set the `logpath` setting. A `logs` folder will be created in that location where the logfile will be written.
diff --git a/src/components/version.jsx b/src/components/version.jsx
index 5c0b82b6c..96e230df6 100644
--- a/src/components/version.jsx
+++ b/src/components/version.jsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import useSWR from "swr";
 import { compareVersions } from "compare-versions";
 import { MdNewReleases } from "react-icons/md";
 
-export default function Version() {
+export default function Version({ disableUpdateCheck = false }) {
   const { t, i18n } = useTranslation();
 
   const buildTime = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BUILDTIME?.length
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export default function Version() {
   const revision = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_REVISION?.length ? process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_REVISION : "dev";
   const version = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_VERSION?.length ? process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_VERSION : "dev";
 
-  const { data: releaseData } = useSWR("/api/releases");
+  const { data: releaseData } = useSWR(disableUpdateCheck ? null : "/api/releases");
 
   // use Intl.DateTimeFormat to format the date
   const formatDate = (date) => {
diff --git a/src/pages/api/releases.js b/src/pages/api/releases.js
index 14d3051d6..f15930c21 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/releases.js
+++ b/src/pages/api/releases.js
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 import cachedFetch from "utils/proxy/cached-fetch";
+import createLogger from "utils/logger";
+
+const logger = createLogger("releases");
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   const releasesURL = "https://api.github.com/repos/gethomepage/homepage/releases";
-  return res.send(await cachedFetch(releasesURL, 5));
+  try {
+    return res.send(await cachedFetch(releasesURL, 5));
+  } catch (e) {
+    logger.error(`Error checking GitHub releases: ${e}`);
+    return res.send([]);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/pages/index.jsx b/src/pages/index.jsx
index 75674c304..1a044ca39 100644
--- a/src/pages/index.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/index.jsx
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ function Home({ initialSettings }) {
           </div>
 
           <div id="version" className="flex mt-4 w-full justify-end">
-            {!settings.hideVersion && <Version />}
+            {!settings.hideVersion && <Version disableUpdateCheck={settings.disableUpdateCheck} />}
           </div>
         </div>
       </div>