diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/api/featureDiscoveryApi.ts b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/api/featureDiscoveryApi.ts
index e5f90c2baf6..b60290ad481 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/api/featureDiscoveryApi.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/api/featureDiscoveryApi.ts
@@ -59,24 +59,28 @@ export const featureDiscoveryApi = alertingApi.injectEndpoints({
           return { error: new Error(`Missing data source configuration for ${rulesSourceIdentifier}`) };
         }
 
-        const features = await discoverFeaturesByUid(dataSourceSettings.uid);
+        try {
+          const features = await discoverFeaturesByUid(dataSourceSettings.uid);
 
-        const rulerConfig = features.features.rulerApiEnabled
-          ? ({
-              dataSourceName: dataSourceSettings.name,
-              dataSourceUid: dataSourceSettings.uid,
-              apiVersion: features.application === PromApplication.Cortex ? 'legacy' : 'config',
-            } satisfies RulerDataSourceConfig)
-          : undefined;
+          const rulerConfig = features.features.rulerApiEnabled
+            ? ({
+                dataSourceName: dataSourceSettings.name,
+                dataSourceUid: dataSourceSettings.uid,
+                apiVersion: features.application === PromApplication.Cortex ? 'legacy' : 'config',
+              } satisfies RulerDataSourceConfig)
+            : undefined;
 
-        return {
-          data: {
-            name: dataSourceSettings.name,
-            uid: dataSourceSettings.uid,
-            application: features.application,
-            rulerConfig,
-          } satisfies RulesSourceFeatures,
-        };
+          return {
+            data: {
+              name: dataSourceSettings.name,
+              uid: dataSourceSettings.uid,
+              application: features.application,
+              rulerConfig,
+            } satisfies RulesSourceFeatures,
+          };
+        } catch (error) {
+          return { error: error };
+        }
       },
     }),
   }),
diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/GroupedView.tsx b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/GroupedView.tsx
index da79a9e6d5a..3458ad6822c 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/GroupedView.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/GroupedView.tsx
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export function GrafanaDataSourceLoader() {
 }
 
 function DataSourceLoader({ rulesSourceIdentifier }: DataSourceLoaderProps) {
-  const { data: dataSourceInfo, isLoading } = useDiscoverDsFeaturesQuery({ uid: rulesSourceIdentifier.uid });
+  const { data: dataSourceInfo, isLoading, error } = useDiscoverDsFeaturesQuery({ uid: rulesSourceIdentifier.uid });
 
   const { uid, name } = rulesSourceIdentifier;
 
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ function DataSourceLoader({ rulesSourceIdentifier }: DataSourceLoaderProps) {
     return <DataSourceSection loader={<Skeleton width={250} height={16} />} uid={uid} name={name} />;
   }
 
+  if (error) {
+    return <DataSourceSection error={error} uid={uid} name={name} />;
+  }
+
   // 2. grab prometheus rule groups with max_groups if supported
   if (dataSourceInfo) {
     return (
diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedDataSourceLoader.tsx b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedDataSourceLoader.tsx
index 950c460d1e2..161437c7528 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedDataSourceLoader.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedDataSourceLoader.tsx
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export function PaginatedDataSourceLoader({ rulesSourceIdentifier, application }
     };
   }, [groupsGenerator]);
 
-  const { isLoading, groups, hasMoreGroups, fetchMoreGroups } = useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups(
+  const { isLoading, groups, hasMoreGroups, fetchMoreGroups, error } = useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups(
     groupsGenerator.current,
     DATA_SOURCE_GROUP_PAGE_SIZE
   );
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export function PaginatedDataSourceLoader({ rulesSourceIdentifier, application }
   const groupsByNamespace = useMemo(() => groupBy(groups, 'file'), [groups]);
 
   return (
-    <DataSourceSection name={name} application={application} uid={uid} isLoading={isLoading}>
+    <DataSourceSection name={name} application={application} uid={uid} isLoading={isLoading} error={error}>
       <Stack direction="column" gap={0}>
         {Object.entries(groupsByNamespace).map(([namespace, groups]) => (
           <ListSection
diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedGrafanaLoader.tsx b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedGrafanaLoader.tsx
index cb728adb63b..75a657216ce 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedGrafanaLoader.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/PaginatedGrafanaLoader.tsx
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export function PaginatedGrafanaLoader() {
     };
   }, []);
 
-  const { isLoading, groups, hasMoreGroups, fetchMoreGroups } = useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups(
+  const { isLoading, groups, hasMoreGroups, fetchMoreGroups, error } = useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups(
     groupsGenerator.current,
     GRAFANA_GROUP_PAGE_SIZE
   );
@@ -42,7 +42,13 @@ export function PaginatedGrafanaLoader() {
   const hasNoRules = isEmpty(groups) && !isLoading;
 
   return (
-    <DataSourceSection name="Grafana" application="grafana" uid={GrafanaRulesSourceSymbol} isLoading={isLoading}>
+    <DataSourceSection
+      name="Grafana"
+      application="grafana"
+      uid={GrafanaRulesSourceSymbol}
+      isLoading={isLoading}
+      error={error}
+    >
       <Stack direction="column" gap={0}>
         {Object.entries(groupsByFolder).map(([folderUid, groups]) => {
           // Groups are grouped by folder, so we can use the first group to get the folder name
diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/components/DataSourceSection.tsx b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/components/DataSourceSection.tsx
index c75a9ff9efb..424dfcc3c3f 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/components/DataSourceSection.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/components/DataSourceSection.tsx
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@ import { useToggle } from 'react-use';
 
 import { GrafanaTheme2 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { Trans, useTranslate } from '@grafana/i18n';
-import { IconButton, LinkButton, Stack, Text, useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
+import { Button, IconButton, LinkButton, Stack, Text, Toggletip, useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
 import { GrafanaRulesSourceSymbol, RulesSourceIdentifier } from 'app/types/unified-alerting';
 import { RulesSourceApplication } from 'app/types/unified-alerting-dto';
 
 import { Spacer } from '../../components/Spacer';
 import { WithReturnButton } from '../../components/WithReturnButton';
-import { isAdmin } from '../../utils/misc';
+import { isAdmin, stringifyErrorLike } from '../../utils/misc';
 
 import { DataSourceIcon } from './Namespace';
 import { LoadingIndicator } from './RuleGroup';
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export interface DataSourceSectionProps extends PropsWithChildren {
   application?: RulesSourceApplication;
   isLoading?: boolean;
   description?: ReactNode;
+  error?: unknown;
 }
 
 export const DataSourceSection = ({
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ export const DataSourceSection = ({
   application,
   children,
   loader,
+  error,
   isLoading = false,
   description = null,
 }: DataSourceSectionProps) => {
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ export const DataSourceSection = ({
                   name={isCollapsed ? 'angle-right' : 'angle-down'}
                   onClick={toggleCollapsed}
                   aria-label={t('common.collapse', 'Collapse')}
+                  disabled={Boolean(error)}
                 />
                 {application && <DataSourceIcon application={application} />}
 
@@ -71,6 +74,18 @@ export const DataSourceSection = ({
                     {'·'} {description}
                   </Text>
                 )}
+
+                {Boolean(error) && (
+                  <Toggletip
+                    title={t('alerting.rule-list.ds-error.title', 'Cannot load rules for this datasource')}
+                    content={<div>{stringifyErrorLike(error)}</div>}
+                  >
+                    <Button variant="destructive" fill="outline" size="sm" icon="exclamation-circle">
+                      <Trans i18nKey="alerting.rule-list.error-button">Error</Trans>
+                    </Button>
+                  </Toggletip>
+                )}
+
                 <Spacer />
                 {configureLink && (
                   <WithReturnButton
diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/hooks/useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups.tsx b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/hooks/useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups.tsx
index 351e42427d0..df24ed95571 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/hooks/useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/rule-list/hooks/useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups.tsx
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ export function useLazyLoadPrometheusGroups<TGroup extends PromRuleGroupDTO>(
 
   return {
     isLoading,
+    error: groupsRequestState.error,
     groups,
     hasMoreGroups: !isLoading && hasMoreGroups,
     fetchMoreGroups,
diff --git a/public/locales/en-US/grafana.json b/public/locales/en-US/grafana.json
index 38eff47641d..cddd86ac0d9 100644
--- a/public/locales/en-US/grafana.json
+++ b/public/locales/en-US/grafana.json
@@ -2364,11 +2364,15 @@
       "cannot-load-rule-details-for": "Cannot load rule details for UID {{uid}}",
       "configure-datasource": "Configure",
       "draft-new-rule": "Draft a new rule",
+      "ds-error": {
+        "title": "Cannot load rules for this datasource"
+      },
       "ds-error-boundary": {
         "description": "Check the data source configuration. Does the data source support Prometheus API?",
         "title": "Unable to load rules from this data source"
       },
       "empty-data-source": "No rules found",
+      "error-button": "Error",
       "filter-view": {
         "cancel-search": "Cancel search",
         "no-more-results": "No more results – found {{numberOfRules}} rules",