diff --git a/app/soapbox/actions/instance.ts b/app/soapbox/actions/instance.ts
index 0d6d6c2e40..cd99ac4702 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/actions/instance.ts
+++ b/app/soapbox/actions/instance.ts
@@ -39,12 +39,16 @@ const needsNodeinfo = (instance: Record<string, any>): boolean => {
 
 export const fetchInstance = createAsyncThunk<void, void, { state: RootState }>(
   'instance/fetch',
-  async(_arg, { dispatch, getState }) => {
-    const { data: instance } = await api(getState).get('/api/v1/instance');
-    if (needsNodeinfo(instance)) {
-      dispatch(fetchNodeinfo());
+  async(_arg, { dispatch, getState, rejectWithValue }) => {
+    try {
+      const { data: instance } = await api(getState).get('/api/v1/instance');
+      if (needsNodeinfo(instance)) {
+        dispatch(fetchNodeinfo());
+      }
+      return instance;
+    } catch(e) {
+      return rejectWithValue(e);
     }
-    return instance;
   },
 );
 
diff --git a/app/soapbox/reducers/meta.ts b/app/soapbox/reducers/meta.ts
index ce6848dfe6..aa1df8cc5c 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/reducers/meta.ts
+++ b/app/soapbox/reducers/meta.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ const ReducerRecord = ImmutableRecord({
 export default function meta(state = ReducerRecord(), action: AnyAction) {
   switch(action.type) {
   case fetchInstance.rejected.type:
-    return state.set('instance_fetch_failed', true);
+    if (action.payload.response?.status === 404) {
+      return state.set('instance_fetch_failed', true);
+    }
+    return state;
   default:
     return state;
   }