diff --git a/src/components/Layout.tsx b/src/components/Layout.tsx
index ee035ba5a..81a71217b 100644
--- a/src/components/Layout.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Layout.tsx
@@ -74,7 +74,10 @@ function Header() {
 						<Search />
 					</div>
 					<div className="relative flex basis-0 items-center justify-end gap-6 sm:gap-6 md:flex-grow">
-						<Link
+						{/* Plain anchor: next/link treats this same-origin URL as an
+						    app route and prefetches the changelog app's ~60 assets on
+						    every docs page. */}
+						<a
 							href="https://sourcegraph.com/changelog"
 							className="hidden whitespace-nowrap rounded-md text-xs font-medium text-slate-500 hover:text-vermilion-11 focus:outline-none focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:outline-vermilion-11/50 dark:text-dark-paragraph-text dark:hover:text-vermilion-11 lg:inline-flex"
 						>
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ function Header() {
 							<span className="ml-1" aria-hidden="true">
 								↗
 							</span>
-						</Link>
+						</a>
 						<VersionSelector />
 						<ThemeSelector className="relative z-10" />
 						<Link
diff --git a/src/components/MobileNavigation.tsx b/src/components/MobileNavigation.tsx
index a59ac44db..22c24aba0 100644
--- a/src/components/MobileNavigation.tsx
+++ b/src/components/MobileNavigation.tsx
@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@ export function MobileNavigation() {
 							/>
 						</Link>
 					</div>
-					<Link
+					{/* Plain anchor, so next/link does not prefetch the changelog app */}
+					<a
 						href="https://sourcegraph.com/changelog"
 						className="mt-5 inline-flex rounded-md px-1 text-base font-medium text-slate-500 hover:text-vermilion-11 focus:outline-none focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:outline-vermilion-11/50 dark:text-dark-text-secondary dark:hover:text-vermilion-11"
 					>
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@ export function MobileNavigation() {
 						<span className="ml-1" aria-hidden="true">
 							↗
 						</span>
-					</Link>
+					</a>
 					<Suspense fallback={null}>
 						<Navigation
 							className="mt-5 px-1"