diff --git a/.changeset/tame-guests-collect.md b/.changeset/tame-guests-collect.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bac58d0d52b21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tame-guests-collect.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@sveltejs/kit': patch
+---
+
+Remove the `prerender.force` option in favor of `prerender.onError`
diff --git a/documentation/docs/14-configuration.md b/documentation/docs/14-configuration.md
index 43a45fd9a5f51..ffb6cc07ae160 100644
--- a/documentation/docs/14-configuration.md
+++ b/documentation/docs/14-configuration.md
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ const config = {
 		prerender: {
 			crawl: true,
 			enabled: true,
-			force: false,
+			onError: 'fail',
 			pages: ['*']
 		},
 		router: true,
@@ -148,7 +148,30 @@ See [Prerendering](#ssr-and-javascript-prerender). An object containing zero or
 
 - `crawl` — determines whether SvelteKit should find pages to prerender by following links from the seed page(s)
 - `enabled` — set to `false` to disable prerendering altogether
-- `force` — if `true`, a page that fails to render will _not_ cause the entire build to fail
+- `onError`
+
+  - `"fail"` — (default) fails the build when a routing error is encountered when following a link
+  - `"continue"` — allows the build to continue, despite routing errors
+  - function — you can use the `errorDetails` to determine whether or not to `throw`, thereby failing the build.
+
+    ```ts
+    /** @type {import('@sveltejs/kit').PrerenderErrorHandler} */
+    const handleError = ({ status, path, parent, verb }) => {
+    	if (path.startsWith('/blog')) throw new Error('Missing a blog page!');
+    	console.warn(`${status} ${path}${parent ? ` (${verb} from ${parent})` : ''}`);
+
+    	export default {
+    		kit: {
+    			adapter: static(),
+    			target: '#svelte',
+    			prerender: {
+    				onError: handleError
+    			}
+    		}
+    	};
+    };
+    ```
+
 - `pages` — an array of pages to prerender, or start crawling from (if `crawl: true`). The `*` string includes all non-dynamic routes (i.e. pages with no `[parameters]` )
 
 ### router
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/prerender.js b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/prerender.js
index 9721c91db0fa3..4463cca435f3e 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/prerender.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/adapt/prerender.js
@@ -45,6 +45,32 @@ function get_srcset_urls(attrs) {
 	return results;
 }
 
+/** @typedef {((status: number, path: string, parent: string | null, verb: string) => void | never)} InternalErrorHandler */
+
+/** @type {(...details: Parameters<InternalErrorHandler> ) => string} */
+function errorDetailsToString(status, path, referrer, verb) {
+	return `${status} ${path}${referrer ? ` (${verb} from ${referrer})` : ''}`;
+}
+
+/** @type {(log: import('types/internal').Logger, onError: import('types/config').ValidatedConfig['kit']['prerender']['onError']) => InternalErrorHandler} */
+function chooseErrorHandler(log, onError) {
+	switch (onError) {
+		case 'continue':
+			/** @type {InternalErrorHandler} */
+			return (status, path, referrer, verb) => {
+				log.error(errorDetailsToString(status, path, referrer, verb));
+			};
+		case 'fail':
+			/** @type {InternalErrorHandler} */
+			return (status, path, referrer, verb) => {
+				throw new Error(errorDetailsToString(status, path, referrer, verb));
+			};
+		default:
+			/** @type {InternalErrorHandler} */
+			return (status, path, referrer, verb) => onError({ status, path, referrer, verb });
+	}
+}
+
 const OK = 2;
 const REDIRECT = 3;
 
@@ -75,14 +101,7 @@ export async function prerender({ cwd, out, log, config, build_data, fallback, a
 		read: (file) => readFileSync(join(config.kit.files.assets, file))
 	});
 
-	/** @type {(status: number, path: string, parent: string | null, verb: string) => void} */
-	const error = config.kit.prerender.force
-		? (status, path, parent, verb) => {
-				log.error(`${status} ${path}${parent ? ` (${verb} from ${parent})` : ''}`);
-		  }
-		: (status, path, parent, verb) => {
-				throw new Error(`${status} ${path}${parent ? ` (${verb} from ${parent})` : ''}`);
-		  };
+	const error = chooseErrorHandler(log, config.kit.prerender.onError);
 
 	const files = new Set([...build_data.static, ...build_data.client]);
 
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/config/index.spec.js b/packages/kit/src/core/config/index.spec.js
index f0954248b95d2..e6aea5473ec22 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/config/index.spec.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/config/index.spec.js
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ test('fills in defaults', () => {
 			prerender: {
 				crawl: true,
 				enabled: true,
-				force: false,
+				onError: 'fail',
 				pages: ['*']
 			},
 			router: true,
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ test('fills in partial blanks', () => {
 			prerender: {
 				crawl: true,
 				enabled: true,
-				force: false,
+				onError: 'fail',
 				pages: ['*']
 			},
 			router: true,
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/config/options.js b/packages/kit/src/core/config/options.js
index 633c3ad75c843..89f8b35040e22 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/config/options.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/config/options.js
@@ -121,7 +121,17 @@ const options = {
 				children: {
 					crawl: expect_boolean(true),
 					enabled: expect_boolean(true),
-					force: expect_boolean(false),
+					onError: {
+						type: 'leaf',
+						default: 'fail',
+						validate: (option, keypath) => {
+							if (typeof option === 'function') return option;
+							if (['continue', 'fail'].includes(option)) return option;
+							throw new Error(
+								`${keypath} should be either a custom function or one of "continue" or "fail"`
+							);
+						}
+					},
 					pages: {
 						type: 'leaf',
 						default: ['*'],
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/core/config/test/index.js b/packages/kit/src/core/config/test/index.js
index daa1c8b400b75..84d5fc784a49b 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/core/config/test/index.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/core/config/test/index.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ async function testLoadDefaultConfig(path) {
 				exclude: []
 			},
 			paths: { base: '', assets: '/.' },
-			prerender: { crawl: true, enabled: true, force: false, pages: ['*'] },
+			prerender: { crawl: true, enabled: true, onError: 'fail', pages: ['*'] },
 			router: true,
 			ssr: true,
 			target: null,
diff --git a/packages/kit/types/config.d.ts b/packages/kit/types/config.d.ts
index 45482dddb12fe..b101a28ec86e2 100644
--- a/packages/kit/types/config.d.ts
+++ b/packages/kit/types/config.d.ts
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@ export type Config = {
 	preprocess?: any;
 };
 
+export type PrerenderErrorHandler = (errorDetails: {
+	status: number;
+	path: string;
+	referrer: string | null;
+	verb: string;
+}) => void | never;
+
 export type ValidatedConfig = {
 	compilerOptions: any;
 	extensions: string[];
@@ -117,7 +124,7 @@ export type ValidatedConfig = {
 		prerender: {
 			crawl: boolean;
 			enabled: boolean;
-			force: boolean;
+			onError: 'fail' | 'continue' | PrerenderErrorHandler;
 			pages: string[];
 		};
 		router: boolean;
diff --git a/packages/kit/types/index.d.ts b/packages/kit/types/index.d.ts
index be0495bd1efb4..683031a2dc781 100644
--- a/packages/kit/types/index.d.ts
+++ b/packages/kit/types/index.d.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 import './ambient-modules';
 
-export { Adapter, AdapterUtils, Config, ValidatedConfig } from './config';
+export { Adapter, AdapterUtils, Config, ValidatedConfig, PrerenderErrorHandler } from './config';
 export { EndpointOutput, RequestHandler } from './endpoint';
 export { ErrorLoad, ErrorLoadInput, Load, LoadInput, LoadOutput, Page } from './page';
 export {