diff --git a/.changeset/smooth-toes-press.md b/.changeset/smooth-toes-press.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eaf6b537b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/smooth-toes-press.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-audit": minor
+---
+
+New CLI option added: `--ignore-registry-errors`. When used, audit exits with 0 exit code, when the registry responds with a non-200 status code.
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/package.json b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/package.json
index 6a920be6cc..4cc2a7e2a6 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/package.json
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/package.json
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
     "@pnpm/types": "workspace:7.2.0",
     "@types/ramda": "0.27.39",
     "@types/zkochan__table": "npm:@types/table@6.0.0",
+    "nock": "12.0.3",
     "strip-ansi": "^6.0.0"
   },
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/src/audit.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/src/audit.ts
index b0829bae00..c9ba83b9b5 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/src/audit.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/src/audit.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import audit, { AuditVulnerabilityCounts } from '@pnpm/audit'
+import audit, { AuditReport, AuditVulnerabilityCounts } from '@pnpm/audit'
 import { docsUrl, TABLE_OPTIONS } from '@pnpm/cli-utils'
 import { Config, types as allTypes, UniversalOptions } from '@pnpm/config'
 import { WANTED_LOCKFILE } from '@pnpm/constants'
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ export function cliOptionsTypes () {
       'registry',
     ], allTypes),
     'audit-level': ['low', 'moderate', 'high', 'critical'],
+    'ignore-registry-errors': Boolean,
   }
 }
 
@@ -79,6 +80,10 @@ export function help () {
             description: 'Don\'t audit "optionalDependencies"',
             name: '--no-optional',
           },
+          {
+            description: 'Use exit code 0 if the registry responds with an error. Useful when audit checks are used in CI. A build should fail because the registry has issues.',
+            name: '--ignore-registry-errors',
+          },
         ],
       },
     ],
@@ -90,6 +95,7 @@ export function help () {
 export async function handler (
   opts: Pick<UniversalOptions, 'dir'> & {
     auditLevel?: 'low' | 'moderate' | 'high' | 'critical'
+    ignoreRegistryErrors?: boolean
     json?: boolean
     lockfileDir?: string
     registries: Registries
@@ -104,17 +110,27 @@ export async function handler (
     devDependencies: opts.dev !== false,
     optionalDependencies: opts.optional !== false,
   }
-  const auditReport = await audit(lockfile, {
-    include,
-    registry: opts.registries.default,
-    retry: {
-      factor: opts.fetchRetryFactor,
-      maxTimeout: opts.fetchRetryMaxtimeout,
-      minTimeout: opts.fetchRetryMintimeout,
-      retries: opts.fetchRetries,
-    },
-    timeout: opts.fetchTimeout,
-  })
+  let auditReport!: AuditReport
+  try {
+    auditReport = await audit(lockfile, {
+      include,
+      registry: opts.registries.default,
+      retry: {
+        factor: opts.fetchRetryFactor,
+        maxTimeout: opts.fetchRetryMaxtimeout,
+        minTimeout: opts.fetchRetryMintimeout,
+        retries: opts.fetchRetries,
+      },
+      timeout: opts.fetchTimeout,
+    })
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (opts.ignoreRegistryErrors) {
+      return {
+        exitCode: 0,
+        output: err.message,
+      }
+    }
+  }
   const vulnerabilities = auditReport.metadata.vulnerabilities
   const totalVulnerabilityCount = Object.values(vulnerabilities)
     .reduce((sum: number, vulnerabilitiesCount: number) => sum + vulnerabilitiesCount, 0)
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/test/index.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/test/index.ts
index 918ce2cf4e..8a6f9b349b 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-audit/test/index.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-audit/test/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import path from 'path'
 import { audit } from '@pnpm/plugin-commands-audit'
+import nock from 'nock'
 import stripAnsi from 'strip-ansi'
 
 const skipOnNode10 = process.version.split('.')[0] === 'v10' ? test.skip : test
@@ -83,3 +84,22 @@ test.skip('audit does not exit with code 1 if the found vulnerabilities are havi
   expect(stripAnsi(output)).toBe(`1 vulnerabilities found
 Severity: 1 moderate`)
 })
+
+test('audit does not exit with code 1 if the registry responds with a non-200 reponse and ignoreRegistryErrors is used', async () => {
+  const registry = 'https://registry-error.com'
+  nock(registry)
+    .post('/-/npm/v1/security/audits')
+    .reply(500, { message: 'Something bad happened' })
+  const { output, exitCode } = await audit.handler({
+    dir: path.join(__dirname, 'packages/has-vulnerabilities'),
+    dev: true,
+    ignoreRegistryErrors: true,
+    production: false,
+    registries: {
+      default: registry,
+    },
+  })
+
+  expect(exitCode).toBe(0)
+  expect(stripAnsi(output)).toBe('The audit endpoint (at https://registry-error.com/-/npm/v1/security/audits) responded with 500: {"message":"Something bad happened"}')
+})
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index ed13d9f50e..2d836eb3fd 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -1704,6 +1704,7 @@ importers:
       '@types/zkochan__table': npm:@types/table@6.0.0
       '@zkochan/table': ^1.0.0
       chalk: ^4.1.0
+      nock: 12.0.3
       ramda: ^0.27.1
       render-help: ^1.0.1
       strip-ansi: ^6.0.0
@@ -1723,6 +1724,7 @@ importers:
       '@pnpm/types': link:../types
       '@types/ramda': 0.27.39
       '@types/zkochan__table': /@types/table/6.0.0
+      nock: 12.0.3
       strip-ansi: 6.0.0
 
   packages/plugin-commands-import: