diff --git a/deploy-manage/upgrade/prepare-to-upgrade/upgrade-assistant.md b/deploy-manage/upgrade/prepare-to-upgrade/upgrade-assistant.md
index 8056848d24..905d202725 100644
--- a/deploy-manage/upgrade/prepare-to-upgrade/upgrade-assistant.md
+++ b/deploy-manage/upgrade/prepare-to-upgrade/upgrade-assistant.md
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ The Upgrade Assistant helps you [prepare to upgrade](/deploy-manage/upgrade/prep
 
 To access the assistant, go to the **Upgrade Assistant** management page in the navigation menu or use the [global search field](/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects.md).
 
+::::{note}
+The Upgrade Assistant relies only on local {{es}} and {{kib}} APIs (see [Deprecations](#_deprecations) below) to detect deprecations and prepare your cluster for upgrade — it doesn't depend on any external service. This means you can use it even in air-gapped environments without internet access.
+::::
+
 ::::{tip}
 Upgrade assistant should be run from the latest minor release before a major upgrade. When upgrading to 9.x, ensure you run 8.19.latest, and run the assistant there.
 Running the latest patched version of 8.19 will apply latest version of the upgrade assistant logic.