diff --git a/integrations/api_releases_test.go b/integrations/api_releases_test.go
index 870d7d0e64..2b310d11e0 100644
--- a/integrations/api_releases_test.go
+++ b/integrations/api_releases_test.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ package integrations
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
-	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"code.gitea.io/gitea/models"
@@ -152,7 +151,7 @@ func TestAPIGetReleaseByTag(t *testing.T) {
 
 	var err *api.APIError
 	DecodeJSON(t, resp, &err)
-	assert.True(t, strings.HasPrefix(err.Message, "release tag does not exist"))
+	assert.EqualValues(t, "Not Found", err.Message)
 }
 
 func TestAPIDeleteTagByName(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/routers/api/v1/repo/release_tags.go b/routers/api/v1/repo/release_tags.go
index ef07ce5e1a..70011a6a8e 100644
--- a/routers/api/v1/repo/release_tags.go
+++ b/routers/api/v1/repo/release_tags.go
@@ -48,14 +48,19 @@ func GetReleaseTag(ctx *context.APIContext) {
 	release, err := models.GetRelease(ctx.Repo.Repository.ID, tag)
 	if err != nil {
 		if models.IsErrReleaseNotExist(err) {
-			ctx.Error(http.StatusNotFound, "GetRelease", err)
+			ctx.NotFound()
 			return
 		}
 		ctx.Error(http.StatusInternalServerError, "GetRelease", err)
 		return
 	}
 
-	if err := release.LoadAttributes(); err != nil {
+	if release.IsTag {
+		ctx.NotFound()
+		return
+	}
+
+	if err = release.LoadAttributes(); err != nil {
 		ctx.Error(http.StatusInternalServerError, "LoadAttributes", err)
 		return
 	}