diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/bazel/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap b/lib/modules/manager/bazel/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
index d17b3e86a036f7..e7064c344682ef 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/bazel/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/bazel/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ exports[`modules/manager/bazel/extract extractPackageFile() extracts multiple ty
   },
   {
     "currentDigest": "b3b620e8bcff18ed3378cd3f35ebeb7016d71f71",
-    "datasource": "github-releases",
+    "datasource": "github-tags",
     "depName": "com_github_bazelbuild_buildtools",
     "depType": "git_repository",
     "managerData": {
diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/bazel/rules/git.ts b/lib/modules/manager/bazel/rules/git.ts
index 5779a67bac1782..357b4f4b3a0a35 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/bazel/rules/git.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/bazel/rules/git.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { logger } from '../../../../logger';
 import { regEx } from '../../../../util/regex';
 import { GithubReleasesDatasource } from '../../../datasource/github-releases';
 import type { PackageDependency } from '../../types';
+import { GithubTagsDatasource } from '../../../datasource/github-tags';
 
 const githubUrlRegex = regEx(
   /^https:\/\/github\.com\/(?<packageName>[^/]+\/[^/]+)/,
@@ -44,8 +45,12 @@ export const GitTarget = z
 
     const githubPackage = githubPackageName(remote);
     if (githubPackage) {
-      dep.datasource = GithubReleasesDatasource.id;
       dep.packageName = githubPackage;
+      if (dep.currentValue) {
+        dep.datasource = GithubReleasesDatasource.id;
+      } else {
+        dep.datasource = GithubTagsDatasource.id;
+      }
     }
 
     if (!dep.datasource) {