diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 7c552bde3..76dbd34a1 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1414,6 +1414,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "getrandom 0.2.10",
  "gix",
  "grass",
+ "hex",
  "hostname",
  "http",
  "humantime",
@@ -1423,6 +1424,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "kuchiki",
  "log",
  "lol_html",
+ "md-5",
  "memmap2",
  "mime",
  "mime_guess",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 91ecc7bb9..9a735ca7b 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ uuid = "1.1.2"
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
 memmap2 = "0.5.0"
+md-5 = "0.10.5"
+hex = "0.4.3"
 
 # axum dependencies
 axum = { version = "0.6.1", features = ["headers"]}
diff --git a/src/web/cache.rs b/src/web/cache.rs
index cd05eee37..17205fb22 100644
--- a/src/web/cache.rs
+++ b/src/web/cache.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
-use crate::config::Config;
+use crate::{config::Config, web::error::AxumResult};
+use anyhow::Context as _;
 use axum::{
-    http::Request as AxumHttpRequest, middleware::Next, response::Response as AxumResponse,
+    headers::{ETag, HeaderMapExt, IfNoneMatch},
+    http::{Request as AxumHttpRequest, StatusCode},
+    middleware::Next,
+    response::IntoResponse,
+    response::Response as AxumResponse,
+    TypedHeader,
 };
 use http::{header::CACHE_CONTROL, HeaderValue};
+use md5::{Digest, Md5};
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use tracing::trace;
 
 pub static NO_CACHING: HeaderValue = HeaderValue::from_static("max-age=0");
 
@@ -101,6 +109,62 @@ pub(crate) async fn cache_middleware<B>(req: AxumHttpRequest<B>, next: Next<B>)
     response
 }
 
+pub(crate) async fn etag_middleware<B>(
+    if_none_match: Option<TypedHeader<IfNoneMatch>>,
+    req: AxumHttpRequest<B>,
+    next: Next<B>,
+) -> AxumResult<AxumResponse> {
+    let if_none_match = if_none_match.map(|header| header.0);
+    let response = next.run(req).await;
+
+    let (mut parts, body) = response.into_parts();
+
+    if let Some(etag) = parts.headers.typed_get::<ETag>() {
+        // when the handler already set an ETag, use that one.
+        // can be used to generate an ETag not based on the content, but
+        // on other metadata.
+        // We also don't need to hash the response body then.
+        if let Some(if_none_match) = if_none_match {
+            if !if_none_match.precondition_passes(&etag) {
+                return Ok((StatusCode::NOT_MODIFIED, parts).into_response());
+            }
+        }
+        Ok((parts, body).into_response())
+    } else {
+        // when the response doesn't have an ETag, we want to generate one,
+        // which we need the body for.
+        let bytes = hyper::body::to_bytes(body)
+            .await
+            .context("could not read response body")?;
+
+        if bytes.is_empty() {
+            Ok(parts.into_response())
+        } else {
+            let mut hasher = Md5::new();
+            hasher.update(&bytes);
+            let result = hasher.finalize();
+
+            let etag: ETag = format!("\"{}\"", hex::encode(result)).parse().expect(
+                "this is safe since the format! & hex::encode always is a valid ETag header",
+            );
+            parts.headers.typed_insert(etag.clone());
+
+            if let Some(if_none_match) = if_none_match {
+                let etag_matches_if_none_match = !if_none_match.precondition_passes(&etag);
+
+                trace!(?etag, etag_matches_if_none_match, ?if_none_match);
+
+                if etag_matches_if_none_match {
+                    return Ok((StatusCode::NOT_MODIFIED, parts).into_response());
+                }
+            }
+            trace!(?etag, "no if-none-match header or no match");
+
+            Ok((parts, bytes).into_response())
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/src/web/mod.rs b/src/web/mod.rs
index a4db97c33..f83cd093d 100644
--- a/src/web/mod.rs
+++ b/src/web/mod.rs
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ fn apply_middleware(
             .layer(Extension(context.storage()?))
             .layer(Extension(context.repository_stats_updater()?))
             .layer(option_layer(template_data.map(Extension)))
+            .layer(middleware::from_fn(cache::etag_middleware))
             .layer(middleware::from_fn(csp::csp_middleware))
             .layer(option_layer(has_templates.then_some(middleware::from_fn(
                 page::web_page::render_templates_middleware,