diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/AlertTabCtrl.ts b/public/app/features/alerting/AlertTabCtrl.ts
index 5a8abee00d7..6d87c159d02 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/AlertTabCtrl.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/AlertTabCtrl.ts
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ export class AlertTabCtrl {
       this.datasourceSrv.get(datasourceName).then(ds => {
         if (!ds.meta.alerting) {
           this.error = 'The datasource does not support alerting queries';
-        } else if (ds.targetContainsTemplate(foundTarget)) {
+        } else if (ds.targetContainsTemplate && ds.targetContainsTemplate(foundTarget)) {
           this.error = 'Template variables are not supported in alert queries';
         } else {
           this.error = '';