diff --git a/pkg/api/index.go b/pkg/api/index.go
index 7f484ecf555..e1f56ffa1cd 100644
--- a/pkg/api/index.go
+++ b/pkg/api/index.go
@@ -136,19 +136,7 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) getNavTree(c *models.ReqContext, hasEditPerm bool) ([]*dto
 	navTree := []*dtos.NavLink{}
 
 	if hasEditPerm {
-		children := []*dtos.NavLink{
-			{Text: "Dashboard", Icon: "apps", Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboard/new"},
-		}
-		if c.OrgRole == models.ROLE_ADMIN || c.OrgRole == models.ROLE_EDITOR {
-			children = append(children, &dtos.NavLink{
-				Text: "Folder", SubTitle: "Create a new folder to organize your dashboards", Id: "folder",
-				Icon: "folder-plus", Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboards/folder/new",
-			})
-		}
-		children = append(children, &dtos.NavLink{
-			Text: "Import", SubTitle: "Import dashboard from file or Grafana.com", Id: "import", Icon: "import",
-			Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboard/import",
-		})
+		children := hs.buildCreateNavLinks(c)
 		navTree = append(navTree, &dtos.NavLink{
 			Text:       "Create",
 			Id:         "create",
@@ -376,6 +364,30 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) getNavTree(c *models.ReqContext, hasEditPerm bool) ([]*dto
 	return navTree, nil
 }
 
+func (hs *HTTPServer) buildCreateNavLinks(c *models.ReqContext) []*dtos.NavLink {
+	children := []*dtos.NavLink{
+		{Text: "Dashboard", Icon: "apps", Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboard/new"},
+	}
+	if c.OrgRole == models.ROLE_ADMIN || c.OrgRole == models.ROLE_EDITOR {
+		children = append(children, &dtos.NavLink{
+			Text: "Folder", SubTitle: "Create a new folder to organize your dashboards", Id: "folder",
+			Icon: "folder-plus", Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboards/folder/new",
+		})
+	}
+	children = append(children, &dtos.NavLink{
+		Text: "Import", SubTitle: "Import dashboard from file or Grafana.com", Id: "import", Icon: "import",
+		Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/dashboard/import",
+	})
+	if setting.AlertingEnabled || hs.Cfg.UnifiedAlerting.Enabled {
+		children = append(children, &dtos.NavLink{
+			Text: "Alert rule", SubTitle: "Create an alert rule", Id: "alert",
+			Icon: "bell", Url: hs.Cfg.AppSubURL + "/alerting/new",
+		})
+	}
+
+	return children
+}
+
 func (hs *HTTPServer) buildAdminNavLinks(c *models.ReqContext) []*dtos.NavLink {
 	hasAccess := ac.HasAccess(hs.AccessControl, c)
 	adminNavLinks := []*dtos.NavLink{}