diff --git a/lib/manager/bazel/update.js b/lib/manager/bazel/update.js
index 0d4e2c591fef2dc498fd07db88d6c3b532764877..d730bcc9061103710eb15fde61ddf8e13a360079 100644
--- a/lib/manager/bazel/update.js
+++ b/lib/manager/bazel/update.js
@@ -24,10 +24,22 @@ async function updateDependency(fileContent, upgrade) {
       }
     } else if (upgrade.depType === 'http_archive') {
       const [, shortRepo] = upgrade.repo.split('/');
-      const newUrl = `https://github.com/${upgrade.repo}/releases/download/${
-        upgrade.newValue
-      }/${shortRepo}-${upgrade.newValue}.tar.gz`;
-      const file = (await got(newUrl, { encoding: null })).body;
+      let newUrl;
+      let file;
+      try {
+        newUrl = `https://github.com/${upgrade.repo}/releases/download/${
+          upgrade.newValue
+        }/${shortRepo}-${upgrade.newValue}.tar.gz`;
+        file = (await got(newUrl, { encoding: null })).body;
+      } catch (err) {
+        logger.debug(
+          'Failed to download release download - trying archive instead'
+        );
+        newUrl = `https://github.com/${upgrade.repo}/archive/${
+          upgrade.newValue
+        }.tar.gz`;
+        file = (await got(newUrl, { encoding: null })).body;
+      }
       const hash = crypto
         .createHash('sha256')
         .update(file)
diff --git a/test/manager/bazel/update.spec.js b/test/manager/bazel/update.spec.js
index 114e7bbb9b394b43110b3de567a19dfc8ac5bb8f..07d2bc0312ce0ddfb110598bb455d07322438e2d 100644
--- a/test/manager/bazel/update.spec.js
+++ b/test/manager/bazel/update.spec.js
@@ -65,6 +65,21 @@ describe('manager/bazel/update', () => {
       expect(res).not.toEqual(content);
       expect(res.indexOf('0.8.1')).not.toBe(-1);
     });
+    it('updates second time http archive', async () => {
+      const upgrade = {
+        depName: 'io_bazel_rules_go',
+        depType: 'http_archive',
+        repo: 'bazelbuild/rules_go',
+        def: `http_archive(\n    name = "io_bazel_rules_go",\n    url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_go/releases/download/0.7.1/rules_go-0.7.1.tar.gz",\n    sha256 = "341d5eacef704415386974bc82a1783a8b7ffbff2ab6ba02375e1ca20d9b031c",\n)`,
+        currentValue: '0.7.1',
+        newValue: '0.8.1',
+      };
+      got.mockReturnValueOnce(null);
+      got.mockReturnValueOnce({ body: '' });
+      const res = await bazelfile.updateDependency(content, upgrade);
+      expect(res).not.toEqual(content);
+      expect(res.indexOf('0.8.1')).not.toBe(-1);
+    });
     it('updates http urls array', async () => {
       const upgrade = {
         depName: 'bazel_skylib',