diff --git a/changelog/upgrade_check.dd b/changelog/upgrade_check.dd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b59134
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/upgrade_check.dd
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+The regular upgrade check has been removed
+
+Previously dub would regularly (once a day) check for possible package upgrades before building a packages.
+This lead to unexpected build failures, e.g. when internet connectivity was down or dependency resolution failed, and caused unnecessary delays.
+
+The build flag `--nodeps` now only suppresses resolution of missing dependencies.
+
+The new upgrade flag `--dry-run` was added to explicitly check for upgradable packages without actually upgrading anything.
diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 4120e0c..9ae6774 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@
 			"Define the specified debug version identifier when building - can be used multiple times"
 		]);
 		args.getopt("nodeps", &m_nodeps, [
-			"Do not check/update dependencies before building"
+			"Do not resolve missing dependencies before building"
 		]);
 		args.getopt("build-mode", &m_buildMode, [
 			"Specifies the way the compiler and linker are invoked. Valid values:",
@@ -660,8 +660,6 @@
 		}
 
 		if (!m_nodeps) {
-			// TODO: only upgrade(select) if necessary, only upgrade(upgrade) every now and then
-
 			// retrieve missing packages
 			dub.project.reinit();
 			if (!dub.project.hasAllDependencies) {
@@ -669,11 +667,6 @@
 				if (m_single) dub.upgrade(UpgradeOptions.select | UpgradeOptions.noSaveSelections);
 				else dub.upgrade(UpgradeOptions.select);
 			}
-
-			if (!m_single) {
-				logDiagnostic("Checking for upgrades.");
-				dub.upgrade(UpgradeOptions.upgrade|UpgradeOptions.printUpgradesOnly|UpgradeOptions.useCachedResult);
-			}
 		}
 
 		dub.project.validate();
@@ -1131,6 +1124,7 @@
 		bool m_forceRemove = false;
 		bool m_missingOnly = false;
 		bool m_verify = false;
+		bool m_dryRun = false;
 	}
 
 	this()
@@ -1155,6 +1149,9 @@
 		args.getopt("verify", &m_verify, [
 			"Updates the project and performs a build. If successful, rewrites the selected versions file <to be implemented>."
 		]);
+		args.getopt("dry-run", &m_dryRun, [
+			"Only print what would be upgraded, but don't actually upgrade anything."
+		]);
 		args.getopt("missing-only", &m_missingOnly, [
 			"Performs an upgrade only for dependencies that don't yet have a version selected. This is also done automatically before each build."
 		]);
@@ -1173,6 +1170,7 @@
 		auto options = UpgradeOptions.upgrade|UpgradeOptions.select;
 		if (m_missingOnly) options &= ~UpgradeOptions.upgrade;
 		if (m_prerelease) options |= UpgradeOptions.preRelease;
+		if (m_dryRun) options |= UpgradeOptions.dryRun;
 		dub.upgrade(options, free_args);
 		return 0;
 	}
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 12d7d82..61a1b7c 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -525,21 +525,12 @@
 		}
 
 		Dependency[string] versions;
-		if ((options & UpgradeOptions.useCachedResult) && m_project.isUpgradeCacheUpToDate() && !packages_to_upgrade.length) {
-			logDiagnostic("Using cached upgrade results...");
-			versions = m_project.getUpgradeCache();
-		} else {
-			auto resolver = new DependencyVersionResolver(this, options);
-			foreach (p; packages_to_upgrade)
-				resolver.addPackageToUpgrade(p);
-			versions = resolver.resolve(m_project.rootPackage, m_project.selections);
-			if (options & UpgradeOptions.useCachedResult) {
-				logDiagnostic("Caching upgrade results...");
-				m_project.setUpgradeCache(versions);
-			}
-		}
+		auto resolver = new DependencyVersionResolver(this, options);
+		foreach (p; packages_to_upgrade)
+			resolver.addPackageToUpgrade(p);
+		versions = resolver.resolve(m_project.rootPackage, m_project.selections);
 
-		if (options & UpgradeOptions.printUpgradesOnly) {
+		if (options & UpgradeOptions.dryRun) {
 			bool any = false;
 			string rootbasename = getBasePackageName(m_project.rootPackage.name);
 
@@ -550,7 +541,7 @@
 				if (basename == rootbasename) continue;
 
 				if (!m_project.selections.hasSelectedVersion(basename)) {
-					logInfo("Non-selected package %s is available with version %s.",
+					logInfo("Package %s would be selected with version %s.",
 						basename, ver);
 					any = true;
 					continue;
@@ -558,7 +549,7 @@
 				auto sver = m_project.selections.getSelectedVersion(basename);
 				if (!sver.path.empty) continue;
 				if (ver.version_ <= sver.version_) continue;
-				logInfo("Package %s can be upgraded from %s to %s.",
+				logInfo("Package %s would be upgraded from %s to %s.",
 					basename, sver, ver);
 				any = true;
 			}
@@ -603,7 +594,7 @@
 
 		m_project.reinit();
 
-		if ((options & UpgradeOptions.select) && !(options & UpgradeOptions.noSaveSelections))
+		if ((options & UpgradeOptions.select) && !(options & (UpgradeOptions.noSaveSelections | UpgradeOptions.dryRun)))
 			m_project.saveSelections();
 	}
 
@@ -1381,8 +1372,9 @@
 	preRelease = 1<<2, /// inclde pre-release versions in upgrade
 	forceRemove = 1<<3, /// Deprecated, does nothing.
 	select = 1<<4, /// Update the dub.selections.json file with the upgraded versions
-	printUpgradesOnly = 1<<5, /// Instead of downloading new packages, just print a message to notify the user of their existence
-	useCachedResult = 1<<6, /// Use cached information stored with the package to determine upgrades
+	dryRun = 1<<5, /// Instead of downloading new packages, just print a message to notify the user of their existence
+	/*deprecated*/ printUpgradesOnly = dryRun, /// deprecated, use dryRun instead
+	/*deprecated*/ useCachedResult = 1<<6, /// deprecated, has no effect
 	noSaveSelections = 1<<7, /// Don't store updated selections on disk
 }
 
diff --git a/source/dub/project.d b/source/dub/project.d
index 277b92b..c2a36b2 100644
--- a/source/dub/project.d
+++ b/source/dub/project.d
@@ -1067,41 +1067,14 @@
 			m_selections.save(path);
 	}
 
-	/** Checks if the cached upgrade information is still considered up to date.
-
-		The cache will be considered out of date after 24 hours after the last
-		online check.
-	*/
-	bool isUpgradeCacheUpToDate()
+	deprecated bool isUpgradeCacheUpToDate()
 	{
-		try {
-			auto datestr = m_packageSettings["dub"].opt!(Json[string]).get("lastUpgrade", Json("")).get!string;
-			if (!datestr.length) return false;
-			auto date = SysTime.fromISOExtString(datestr);
-			if ((Clock.currTime() - date) > 1.days) return false;
-			return true;
-		} catch (Exception t) {
-			logDebug("Failed to get the last upgrade time: %s", t.msg);
-			return false;
-		}
+		return false;
 	}
 
-	/** Returns the currently cached upgrade information.
-
-		The returned dictionary maps from dependency package name to the latest
-		available version that matches the dependency specifications.
-	*/
-	Dependency[string] getUpgradeCache()
+	deprecated Dependency[string] getUpgradeCache()
 	{
-		try {
-			Dependency[string] ret;
-			foreach (string p, d; m_packageSettings["dub"].opt!(Json[string]).get("cachedUpgrades", Json.emptyObject))
-				ret[p] = SelectedVersions.dependencyFromJson(d);
-			return ret;
-		} catch (Exception t) {
-			logDebug("Failed to get cached upgrades: %s", t.msg);
-			return null;
-		}
+		return null;
 	}
 
 	/** Sets a new set of versions for the upgrade cache.
@@ -1446,4 +1419,3 @@
 			m_selections[p] = Selected(dependencyFromJson(v));
 	}
 }
-