diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js
index b314426f..f0edb0a1 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ export class Collection extends React.Component {
       collection,
       collections,
       collectionName,
+      isSearchEnabled,
       isSearchResults,
       isSingleSearchResult,
       searchTerm,
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ export class Collection extends React.Component {
         <Sidebar
           collections={collections}
           collection={(!isSearchResults || isSingleSearchResult) && collection}
+          isSearchEnabled={isSearchEnabled}
           searchTerm={searchTerm}
           filterTerm={filterTerm}
         />
@@ -149,6 +151,7 @@ export class Collection extends React.Component {
 
 function mapStateToProps(state, ownProps) {
   const { collections } = state;
+  const isSearchEnabled = state.config && state.config.search != false;
   const { isSearchResults, match, t } = ownProps;
   const { name, searchTerm = '', filterTerm = '' } = match.params;
   const collection = name ? collections.get(name) : collections.first();
@@ -164,6 +167,7 @@ function mapStateToProps(state, ownProps) {
     collection,
     collections,
     collectionName: name,
+    isSearchEnabled,
     isSearchResults,
     searchTerm,
     filterTerm,
diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Sidebar.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Sidebar.js
index ae1e59b8..e7389fa5 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Sidebar.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Sidebar.js
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ export class Sidebar extends React.Component {
   static propTypes = {
     collections: ImmutablePropTypes.map.isRequired,
     collection: ImmutablePropTypes.map,
+    isSearchEnabled: PropTypes.bool,
     searchTerm: PropTypes.string,
     filterTerm: PropTypes.string,
     t: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
@@ -103,17 +104,18 @@ export class Sidebar extends React.Component {
   };
 
   render() {
-    const { collections, collection, searchTerm, t, filterTerm } = this.props;
-
+    const { collections, collection, isSearchEnabled, searchTerm, t, filterTerm } = this.props;
     return (
       <SidebarContainer>
         <SidebarHeading>{t('collection.sidebar.collections')}</SidebarHeading>
-        <CollectionSearch
-          searchTerm={searchTerm}
-          collections={collections}
-          collection={collection}
-          onSubmit={(query, collection) => searchCollections(query, collection)}
-        />
+        {isSearchEnabled && (
+          <CollectionSearch
+            searchTerm={searchTerm}
+            collections={collections}
+            collection={collection}
+            onSubmit={(query, collection) => searchCollections(query, collection)}
+          />
+        )}
         <SidebarNavList>
           {collections
             .toList()
diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/Sidebar.spec.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/Sidebar.spec.js
index 6fee99cf..1fa04cb8 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/Sidebar.spec.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/Sidebar.spec.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ jest.mock('../../../actions/collections');
 describe('Sidebar', () => {
   const props = {
     searchTerm: '',
+    isSearchEnabled: true,
     t: jest.fn(key => key),
   };
   it('should render sidebar with a simple collection', () => {
@@ -72,4 +73,15 @@ describe('Sidebar', () => {
 
     expect(asFragment()).toMatchSnapshot();
   });
+
+  it('should render sidebar without search', () => {
+    const collections = fromJS([{ name: 'posts', label: 'Posts' }]).toOrderedMap();
+    const { asFragment } = render(
+      <MemoryRouter>
+        <Sidebar {...props} collections={collections} isSearchEnabled={false} />
+      </MemoryRouter>,
+    );
+
+    expect(asFragment()).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/__snapshots__/Sidebar.spec.js.snap b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/__snapshots__/Sidebar.spec.js.snap
index 62947e8f..6d5f2978 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/__snapshots__/Sidebar.spec.js.snap
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/__tests__/__snapshots__/Sidebar.spec.js.snap
@@ -214,3 +214,95 @@ exports[`Sidebar should render sidebar with a simple collection 1`] = `
   </aside>
 </DocumentFragment>
 `;
+
+exports[`Sidebar should render sidebar without search 1`] = `
+<DocumentFragment>
+  .emotion-6 {
+  box-shadow: 0 2px 6px 0 rgba(68,74,87,0.05),0 1px 3px 0 rgba(68,74,87,0.1);
+  border-radius: 5px;
+  background-color: #fff;
+  width: 250px;
+  padding: 8px 0 12px;
+  position: fixed;
+  max-height: calc(100vh - 112px);
+  display: -webkit-box;
+  display: -webkit-flex;
+  display: -ms-flexbox;
+  display: flex;
+  -webkit-flex-direction: column;
+  -ms-flex-direction: column;
+  flex-direction: column;
+}
+
+.emotion-0 {
+  font-size: 23px;
+  font-weight: 600;
+  padding: 0;
+  margin: 18px 12px 12px;
+  color: #313d3e;
+}
+
+.emotion-4 {
+  margin: 16px 0 0;
+  list-style: none;
+  overflow: auto;
+}
+
+.emotion-2 {
+  display: -webkit-box;
+  display: -webkit-flex;
+  display: -ms-flexbox;
+  display: flex;
+  font-size: 14px;
+  font-weight: 500;
+  -webkit-align-items: center;
+  -webkit-box-align: center;
+  -ms-flex-align: center;
+  align-items: center;
+  padding: 8px 12px;
+  border-left: 2px solid #fff;
+  z-index: -1;
+}
+
+.emotion-2 mocked-icon {
+  margin-right: 8px;
+  -webkit-flex-shrink: 0;
+  -ms-flex-negative: 0;
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+}
+
+.emotion-2:hover,
+.emotion-2:active,
+.emotion-2.sidebar-active {
+  color: #3a69c7;
+  background-color: #e8f5fe;
+  border-left-color: #4863c6;
+}
+
+<aside
+    class="emotion-6 emotion-7"
+  >
+    <h2
+      class="emotion-0 emotion-1"
+    >
+      collection.sidebar.collections
+    </h2>
+    <ul
+      class="emotion-4 emotion-5"
+    >
+      <li>
+        <a
+          class="emotion-2 emotion-3"
+          data-testid="posts"
+          href="/collections/posts"
+        >
+          <mocked-icon
+            type="write"
+          />
+          Posts
+        </a>
+      </li>
+    </ul>
+  </aside>
+</DocumentFragment>
+`;
diff --git a/website/content/docs/configuration-options.md b/website/content/docs/configuration-options.md
index 7c6500be..7563e6c8 100644
--- a/website/content/docs/configuration-options.md
+++ b/website/content/docs/configuration-options.md
@@ -159,6 +159,20 @@ When a translation for the selected locale is missing the English one will be us
 show_preview_links: false
 ```
 
+## Search
+
+The search functionally requires loading all collection(s) entries, which can exhaust rate limits on large repositories.
+It can be disabled by setting the top level `search` property to `false`.
+
+Defaults to `true`
+
+**Example:**
+
+```yaml
+search: false
+```
+
+
 ## Slug Type
 
 The `slug` option allows you to change how filenames for entries are created and sanitized. It also applies to filenames of media inserted via the default media library.\