diff --git a/install/package.json b/install/package.json
index 09c07230a8..a3ec8dc909 100644
--- a/install/package.json
+++ b/install/package.json
@@ -165,6 +165,9 @@
         "nyc": "15.1.0",
         "smtp-server": "3.11.0"
     },
+    "optionalDependencies": {
+        "sass-embedded": "1.55.0"
+    },
     "bugs": {
         "url": "https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/issues"
     },
diff --git a/install/web.js b/install/web.js
index b9e4c9fdd1..7a32cfa98d 100644
--- a/install/web.js
+++ b/install/web.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const childProcess = require('child_process');
-const sass = require('sass');
+const sass = require('../src/utils').getSass();
 
 const webpack = require('webpack');
 const nconf = require('nconf');
diff --git a/src/meta/configs.js b/src/meta/configs.js
index 2f7206093b..ca53dc1494 100644
--- a/src/meta/configs.js
+++ b/src/meta/configs.js
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ async function saveRenderedCss(data) {
 	if (!data.customCSS) {
 		return;
 	}
-	const sass = require('sass');
+	const sass = require('../utils').getSass();
 	const scssOutput = await sass.compileStringAsync(data.customCSS, {});
 	data.renderedCustomCSS = scssOutput.css.toString();
 }
diff --git a/src/meta/minifier.js b/src/meta/minifier.js
index 564c79a0f1..069dbbeb6d 100644
--- a/src/meta/minifier.js
+++ b/src/meta/minifier.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const os = require('os');
 const async = require('async');
 const winston = require('winston');
-const sass = require('sass');
+const sass = require('../utils').getSass();
 const postcss = require('postcss');
 const autoprefixer = require('autoprefixer');
 const clean = require('postcss-clean');
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 719abb50d2..2d0d2e7b9c 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -29,4 +29,13 @@ utils.generateUUID = function () {
 	return rnd.join('-');
 };
 
+utils.getSass = function () {
+	try {
+		const sass = require('sass-embedded');
+		return sass;
+	} catch (_err) {
+		return require('sass');
+	}
+};
+
 module.exports = utils;