diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6ab842dba6f..3bb330c4514 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ This release upgrades the project to `go` version 1.16.
 
 Because of the version bump to `go`, the macOS build for this release requires at least version 10.12 Sierra to run.
 
+### Features
+
+1. [21922](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/21922): Add `--ui-disabled` option to `influxd` to allow for running with the UI disabled.
+
 ### Bug Fixes
 
 1. [21748](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/21748): Rename arm rpms with yum-compatible names.
diff --git a/cmd/influxd/launcher/cmd.go b/cmd/influxd/launcher/cmd.go
index fac62ed3e62..64482e6c7b8 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/launcher/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/launcher/cmd.go
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ type InfluxdOpts struct {
 
 	ProfilingDisabled bool
 	MetricsDisabled   bool
+	UIDisabled        bool
 
 	NatsPort            int
 	NatsMaxPayloadBytes int
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@ func NewOpts(viper *viper.Viper) *InfluxdOpts {
 
 		ProfilingDisabled: false,
 		MetricsDisabled:   false,
+		UIDisabled:        false,
 
 		StoreType:   BoltStore,
 		SecretStore: BoltStore,
@@ -561,5 +563,12 @@ func (o *InfluxdOpts) BindCliOpts() []cli.Opt {
 			Desc:    "Don't expose metrics over HTTP at /metrics",
 			Default: o.MetricsDisabled,
 		},
+		// UI Config
+		{
+			DestP:   &o.UIDisabled,
+			Flag:    "ui-disabled",
+			Default: o.UIDisabled,
+			Desc:    "Disable the InfluxDB UI",
+		},
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go b/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
index b9c4abe6844..72f85b4431c 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/launcher/launcher.go
@@ -704,6 +704,7 @@ func (m *Launcher) run(ctx context.Context, opts *InfluxdOpts) (err error) {
 
 	m.apibackend = &http.APIBackend{
 		AssetsPath:           opts.AssetsPath,
+		UIDisabled:           opts.UIDisabled,
 		HTTPErrorHandler:     kithttp.ErrorHandler(0),
 		Logger:               m.log,
 		SessionRenewDisabled: opts.SessionRenewDisabled,
diff --git a/http/api_handler.go b/http/api_handler.go
index 6e77e765486..3ec888ebe31 100644
--- a/http/api_handler.go
+++ b/http/api_handler.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ type APIHandler struct {
 // an APIHandler.
 type APIBackend struct {
 	AssetsPath string // if empty then assets are served from bindata.
+	UIDisabled bool   // if true requests for the UI will return 404
 	Logger     *zap.Logger
 	influxdb.HTTPErrorHandler
 	SessionRenewDisabled bool
diff --git a/http/platform_handler.go b/http/platform_handler.go
index 857428b2686..f3d749658b9 100644
--- a/http/platform_handler.go
+++ b/http/platform_handler.go
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ func NewPlatformHandler(b *APIBackend, opts ...APIHandlerOptFn) *PlatformHandler
 	h.RegisterNoAuthRoute("GET", "/api/v2/swagger.json")
 
 	assetHandler := static.NewAssetHandler(b.AssetsPath)
+	if b.UIDisabled {
+		b.Logger.Debug("http server running with UI disabled")
+		assetHandler = http.NotFoundHandler()
+	}
 
 	wrappedHandler := kithttp.SetCORS(h)
 	wrappedHandler = kithttp.SkipOptions(wrappedHandler)