diff --git a/default/config.yaml b/default/config.yaml
index 0ff6d101f..2d760b39f 100644
--- a/default/config.yaml
+++ b/default/config.yaml
@@ -90,9 +90,11 @@ whitelistImportDomains:
 ##   headers:
 ##     User-Agent: "Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.google.com/bot.html)"
 requestOverrides: []
-# -- PLUGIN CONFIGURATION --
+# -- EXTENSIONS CONFIGURATION --
 # Enable UI extensions
 enableExtensions: true
+# Automatically update extensions when a release version changes
+enableExtensionsAutoUpdate: true
 # Extension settings
 extras:
   # Disables automatic model download from HuggingFace
diff --git a/public/script.js b/public/script.js
index 15f719857..b3e15111f 100644
--- a/public/script.js
+++ b/public/script.js
@@ -416,6 +416,7 @@ export const event_types = {
     GENERATION_STOPPED: 'generation_stopped',
     GENERATION_ENDED: 'generation_ended',
     EXTENSIONS_FIRST_LOAD: 'extensions_first_load',
+    EXTENSION_SETTINGS_LOADED: 'extension_settings_loaded',
     SETTINGS_LOADED: 'settings_loaded',
     SETTINGS_UPDATED: 'settings_updated',
     GROUP_UPDATED: 'group_updated',
@@ -6517,9 +6518,10 @@ export async function getSettings() {
         selected_button = settings.selected_button;
 
         if (data.enable_extensions) {
+            const enableAutoUpdate = Boolean(data.enable_extensions_auto_update);
             const isVersionChanged = settings.currentVersion !== currentVersion;
-            await loadExtensionSettings(settings, isVersionChanged);
-            eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSION_SETTINGS_LOADED);
+            await loadExtensionSettings(settings, isVersionChanged, enableAutoUpdate);
+            await eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSION_SETTINGS_LOADED);
         }
 
         firstRun = !!settings.firstRun;
diff --git a/public/scripts/extensions.js b/public/scripts/extensions.js
index 8abf64bc3..ac300984b 100644
--- a/public/scripts/extensions.js
+++ b/public/scripts/extensions.js
@@ -822,16 +822,17 @@ export async function installExtension(url) {
     const response = await request.json();
     toastr.success(`Extension "${response.display_name}" by ${response.author} (version ${response.version}) has been installed successfully!`, 'Extension installation successful');
     console.debug(`Extension "${response.display_name}" has been installed successfully at ${response.extensionPath}`);
-    await loadExtensionSettings({}, false);
-    eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSION_SETTINGS_LOADED);
+    await loadExtensionSettings({}, false, false);
+    await eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSION_SETTINGS_LOADED);
 }
 
 /**
  * Loads extension settings from the app settings.
  * @param {object} settings App Settings
  * @param {boolean} versionChanged Is this a version change?
+ * @param {boolean} enableAutoUpdate Enable auto-update
  */
-async function loadExtensionSettings(settings, versionChanged) {
+async function loadExtensionSettings(settings, versionChanged, enableAutoUpdate) {
     if (settings.extension_settings) {
         Object.assign(extension_settings, settings.extension_settings);
     }
@@ -842,11 +843,11 @@ async function loadExtensionSettings(settings, versionChanged) {
     $('#extensions_notify_updates').prop('checked', extension_settings.notifyUpdates);
 
     // Activate offline extensions
-    eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSIONS_FIRST_LOAD);
+    await eventSource.emit(event_types.EXTENSIONS_FIRST_LOAD);
     extensionNames = await discoverExtensions();
     manifests = await getManifests(extensionNames);
 
-    if (versionChanged) {
+    if (versionChanged && enableAutoUpdate) {
         await autoUpdateExtensions(false);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/endpoints/settings.js b/src/endpoints/settings.js
index 24986b6b0..301d2ae79 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/settings.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/settings.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const { jsonParser } = require('../express-common');
 const { getAllUserHandles, getUserDirectories } = require('../users');
 
 const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS = getConfigValue('enableExtensions', true);
+const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS_AUTO_UPDATE = getConfigValue('enableExtensionsAutoUpdate', true);
 const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false);
 
 // 10 minutes
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ router.post('/get', jsonParser, (request, response) => {
         instruct,
         context,
         enable_extensions: ENABLE_EXTENSIONS,
+        enable_extensions_auto_update: ENABLE_EXTENSIONS_AUTO_UPDATE,
         enable_accounts: ENABLE_ACCOUNTS,
     });
 });