diff --git a/searx/templates/__common__/about.html b/searx/help/about.html
similarity index 100%
rename from searx/templates/__common__/about.html
rename to searx/help/about.html
diff --git a/searx/templates/oscar/about.html b/searx/templates/oscar/about.html
index bc7fed8e1..ed9b525bc 100644
--- a/searx/templates/oscar/about.html
+++ b/searx/templates/oscar/about.html
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% extends "oscar/base.html" %}
 {% block title %}{{ _('about') }} - {% endblock %}
 {% block content %}
-{% include '__common__/about.html' %}
+{{ help.about | safe }}
 {% endblock %}
diff --git a/searx/templates/simple/about.html b/searx/templates/simple/about.html
index 1913879da..a59699367 100644
--- a/searx/templates/simple/about.html
+++ b/searx/templates/simple/about.html
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {% extends 'simple/base.html' %}
 {% block content %}
-{% include '__common__/about.html' %}
+{{ help.about | safe }}
 {% endblock %}
diff --git a/searx/user_help.py b/searx/user_help.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2822d3a0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/searx/user_help.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+from typing import Dict
+import os.path
+import pkg_resources
+
+import flask
+
+from . import get_setting
+from .version import GIT_URL
+
+HELP: Dict[str, str] = {}
+""" Maps a filename under help/ without the file extension to the rendered HTML. """
+
+
+def render(app: flask.Flask):
+    """
+    Renders the user documentation. Must be called after all Flask routes have been
+    registered, because the documentation might try to link to them with Flask's `url_for`.
+
+    We render the user documentation once on startup to improve performance.
+    """
+    for filename in pkg_resources.resource_listdir(__name__, 'help'):
+        rootname, ext = os.path.splitext(filename)
+        if ext != '.html':
+            continue
+
+        text = pkg_resources.resource_string(__name__, 'help/' + filename).decode()
+
+        base_url = get_setting('server.base_url') or None
+        # we specify base_url so that url_for works for base_urls that have a non-root path
+
+        with app.test_request_context(base_url=base_url):
+            # the request context is needed for Flask's url_for
+            # (otherwise we'd need to set app.config['SERVER_NAME'],
+            # which we don't want)
+
+            interpolated = flask.render_template_string(text, get_setting=get_setting, searx_git_url=GIT_URL)
+
+            HELP[rootname] = interpolated
diff --git a/searx/webapp.py b/searx/webapp.py
index f509fea24..099a42996 100755
--- a/searx/webapp.py
+++ b/searx/webapp.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ from searx import (
     get_setting,
     settings,
     searx_debug,
+    user_help,
 )
 from searx.data import ENGINE_DESCRIPTIONS
 from searx.results import Timing, UnresponsiveEngine
@@ -867,7 +868,7 @@ def __get_translated_errors(unresponsive_engines: Iterable[UnresponsiveEngine]):
 @app.route('/about', methods=['GET'])
 def about():
     """Render about page"""
-    return render('about.html')
+    return render('about.html', help=user_help.HELP)
 
 
 @app.route('/autocompleter', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
@@ -1359,6 +1360,7 @@ werkzeug_reloader = flask_run_development or (searx_debug and __name__ == "__mai
 if not werkzeug_reloader or (werkzeug_reloader and os.environ.get("WERKZEUG_RUN_MAIN") == "true"):
     plugin_initialize(app)
     search_initialize(enable_checker=True, check_network=True, enable_metrics=settings['general']['enable_metrics'])
+    user_help.render(app)
 
 
 def run():