diff --git a/base_requirements.txt b/base_requirements.txt
index 6e3c5ba191..b659c9e8d4 100644
--- a/base_requirements.txt
+++ b/base_requirements.txt
@@ -126,10 +126,6 @@ PyYAML
 # https://github.com/psf/requests/blob/main/HISTORY.md
 requests
 
-# Sentry SDK
-# https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-python/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
-sentry-sdk
-
 # Social authentication framework
 # https://github.com/python-social-auth/social-core/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
 social-auth-core
diff --git a/docs/administration/error-reporting.md b/docs/administration/error-reporting.md
index 1629987741..ccc0a84a55 100644
--- a/docs/administration/error-reporting.md
+++ b/docs/administration/error-reporting.md
@@ -4,27 +4,15 @@
 
 ### Enabling Error Reporting
 
-NetBox supports native integration with [Sentry](https://sentry.io/) for automatic error reporting. To enable this functionality, simply set `SENTRY_ENABLED` to True in `configuration.py`. Errors will be sent to a Sentry ingestor maintained by the NetBox team for analysis.
-
-```python
-SENTRY_ENABLED = True
-```
-
-### Using a Custom DSN
-
-If you prefer instead to use your own Sentry ingestor, you'll need to first create a new project under your Sentry account to represent your NetBox deployment and obtain its corresponding data source name (DSN). This looks like a URL similar to the example below:
-
-```
-https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0
-```
-
-Once you have obtained a DSN, configure Sentry in NetBox's `configuration.py` file with the following parameters:
+NetBox supports native integration with [Sentry](https://sentry.io/) for automatic error reporting. To enable this functionality, set `SENTRY_ENABLED` to True and define your unique [data source name (DSN)](https://docs.sentry.io/product/sentry-basics/concepts/dsn-explainer/) in `configuration.py`.
 
 ```python
 SENTRY_ENABLED = True
 SENTRY_DSN = "https://examplePublicKey@o0.ingest.sentry.io/0"
 ```
 
+Setting `SENTRY_ENABLED` to False will disable the Sentry integration.
+
 ### Assigning Tags
 
 You can optionally attach one or more arbitrary tags to the outgoing error reports if desired by setting the `SENTRY_TAGS` parameter:
diff --git a/docs/configuration/error-reporting.md b/docs/configuration/error-reporting.md
index d1c47e2fb5..8c3526dec8 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/error-reporting.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/error-reporting.md
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ Default: False
 
 Set to True to enable automatic error reporting via [Sentry](https://sentry.io/).
 
+!!! note
+    The `sentry-sdk` Python package is required to enable Sentry integration.
+
 ---
 
 ## SENTRY_SAMPLE_RATE
diff --git a/docs/installation/3-netbox.md b/docs/installation/3-netbox.md
index 0713d12e39..4043416a37 100644
--- a/docs/installation/3-netbox.md
+++ b/docs/installation/3-netbox.md
@@ -227,6 +227,17 @@ sudo sh -c "echo 'boto3' >> /opt/netbox/local_requirements.txt"
 !!! info
     These packages were previously required in NetBox v3.5 but now are optional.
 
+### Sentry Integration
+
+NetBox may be configured to send error reports to [Sentry](../administration/error-reporting.md) for analysis. This integration requires installation of the `sentry-sdk` Python library.
+
+```no-highlight
+sudo sh -c "echo 'sentry-sdk' >> /opt/netbox/local_requirements.txt"
+```
+
+!!! info
+    Sentry integration was previously included by default in NetBox v3.6 but is now optional.
+
 ## Run the Upgrade Script
 
 Once NetBox has been configured, we're ready to proceed with the actual installation. We'll run the packaged upgrade script (`upgrade.sh`) to perform the following actions:
diff --git a/netbox/netbox/settings.py b/netbox/netbox/settings.py
index 09ee38d6a8..465389a112 100644
--- a/netbox/netbox/settings.py
+++ b/netbox/netbox/settings.py
@@ -9,12 +9,14 @@
 from urllib.parse import urlencode, urlsplit
 
 import django
-import sentry_sdk
 from django.contrib.messages import constants as messages
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured, ValidationError
 from django.core.validators import URLValidator
 from django.utils.encoding import force_str
-from sentry_sdk.integrations.django import DjangoIntegration
+try:
+    import sentry_sdk
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    pass
 
 from netbox.config import PARAMS
 from netbox.constants import RQ_QUEUE_DEFAULT, RQ_QUEUE_HIGH, RQ_QUEUE_LOW
@@ -39,8 +41,6 @@
         f"NetBox requires Python 3.8 or later. (Currently installed: Python {platform.python_version()})"
     )
 
-DEFAULT_SENTRY_DSN = 'https://198cf560b29d4054ab8e583a1d10ea58@o1242133.ingest.sentry.io/6396485'
-
 #
 # Configuration import
 #
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@
 SCRIPTS_ROOT = getattr(configuration, 'SCRIPTS_ROOT', os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'scripts')).rstrip('/')
 SEARCH_BACKEND = getattr(configuration, 'SEARCH_BACKEND', 'netbox.search.backends.CachedValueSearchBackend')
 SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = getattr(configuration, 'SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT', False)
-SENTRY_DSN = getattr(configuration, 'SENTRY_DSN', DEFAULT_SENTRY_DSN)
+SENTRY_DSN = getattr(configuration, 'SENTRY_DSN', None)
 SENTRY_ENABLED = getattr(configuration, 'SENTRY_ENABLED', False)
 SENTRY_SAMPLE_RATE = getattr(configuration, 'SENTRY_SAMPLE_RATE', 1.0)
 SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE = getattr(configuration, 'SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE', 0)
@@ -517,12 +517,12 @@ def _setting(name, default=None):
 #
 
 if SENTRY_ENABLED:
+    try:
+        from sentry_sdk.integrations.django import DjangoIntegration
+    except ModuleNotFoundError:
+        raise ImproperlyConfigured("SENTRY_ENABLED is True but the sentry-sdk package is not installed.")
     if not SENTRY_DSN:
         raise ImproperlyConfigured("SENTRY_ENABLED is True but SENTRY_DSN has not been defined.")
-    # If using the default DSN, force sampling rates
-    if SENTRY_DSN == DEFAULT_SENTRY_DSN:
-        SENTRY_SAMPLE_RATE = 1.0
-        SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE = 0
     # Initialize the SDK
     sentry_sdk.init(
         dsn=SENTRY_DSN,
@@ -537,9 +537,6 @@ def _setting(name, default=None):
     # Assign any configured tags
     for k, v in SENTRY_TAGS.items():
         sentry_sdk.set_tag(k, v)
-    # If using the default DSN, append a unique deployment ID tag for error correlation
-    if SENTRY_DSN == DEFAULT_SENTRY_DSN:
-        sentry_sdk.set_tag('netbox.deployment_id', DEPLOYMENT_ID)
 
 
 #
diff --git a/netbox/netbox/views/errors.py b/netbox/netbox/views/errors.py
index d1a8ccd365..a0f783ed6c 100644
--- a/netbox/netbox/views/errors.py
+++ b/netbox/netbox/views/errors.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import requires_csrf_token
 from django.views.defaults import ERROR_500_TEMPLATE_NAME, page_not_found
 from django.views.generic import View
-from sentry_sdk import capture_message
 
 from netbox.plugins.utils import get_installed_plugins
 
@@ -34,7 +33,9 @@ def handler_404(request, exception):
     """
     Wrap Django's default 404 handler to enable Sentry reporting.
     """
-    capture_message("Page not found", level="error")
+    if settings.SENTRY_ENABLED:
+        from sentry_sdk import capture_message
+        capture_message("Page not found", level="error")
 
     return page_not_found(request, exception)
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 16bafe62fe..45fb12f805 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ Pillow==10.1.0
 psycopg[binary,pool]==3.1.12
 PyYAML==6.0.1
 requests==2.31.0
-sentry-sdk==1.34.0
 social-auth-app-django==5.4.0
 social-auth-core[openidconnect]==4.5.0
 svgwrite==1.4.3