diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f6d7044..308058b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Changed
 
 - Change solution to report partial ZIM to the Zimfarm and other clients (#304)
+- Keep temporary folder when crawler or warc2zim fails, even if not asked for (#468)
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9bfba9b..1598ead 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ The image accepts the following parameters, **as well as any of the [warc2zim](h
 - `--exclude <regex>` - skip URLs that match the regex from crawling. Can be specified multiple times. An example is `--exclude="(\?q=|signup-landing\?|\?cid=)"`, where URLs that contain either `?q=` or `signup-landing?` or `?cid=` will be excluded.
 - `--workers N` - number of crawl workers to be run in parallel
 - `--wait-until` - Puppeteer setting for how long to wait for page load. See [page.goto waitUntil options](https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/blob/main/docs/api.md#pagegotourl-options). The default is `load`, but for static sites, `--wait-until domcontentloaded` may be used to speed up the crawl (to avoid waiting for ads to load for example).
-- `--keep` - if set, keep the WARC files in a temp directory inside the output directory
+- `--keep` - in case of failure, WARC files and other temporary files (which are stored as a subfolder of output directory) are always kept, otherwise they are automatically deleted. Use this flag to always keep WARC files, even in case of success.
 
 Example command:
 
diff --git a/src/zimit/zimit.py b/src/zimit/zimit.py
index 416bec9..49ead05 100755
--- a/src/zimit/zimit.py
+++ b/src/zimit/zimit.py
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ from zimit.constants import (
 )
 from zimit.utils import download_file
 
+temp_root_dir: Path | None = None
+
 
 class ProgressFileWatcher:
     def __init__(self, output_dir: Path, stats_path: Path):
@@ -103,6 +105,24 @@ class ProgressFileWatcher:
                     json.dump(out, ofh)
 
 
+def cleanup():
+    if not temp_root_dir:
+        logger.warning("Temporary root dir not already set, cannot clean this up")
+        return
+    logger.info("")
+    logger.info("----------")
+    logger.info(f"Cleanup, removing temp dir: {temp_root_dir}")
+    shutil.rmtree(temp_root_dir)
+
+
+def cancel_cleanup():
+    logger.info(
+        f"Temporary files have been kept in {temp_root_dir}, please clean them"
+        " up manually once you don't need them anymore"
+    )
+    atexit.unregister(cleanup)
+
+
 def run(raw_args):
     parser = ArgumentParser(
         description="Run a browser-based crawl on the specified URL and convert to ZIM"
@@ -314,7 +334,10 @@ def run(raw_args):
 
     parser.add_argument(
         "--keep",
-        help="If set, keep WARC files after crawl, don't delete",
+        help="In case of failure, WARC files and other temporary files (which are "
+        "stored as a subfolder of output directory) are always kept, otherwise "
+        "they are automatically deleted. Use this flag to always keep WARC files, "
+        "even in case of success.",
         action="store_true",
     )
 
@@ -427,19 +450,13 @@ def run(raw_args):
         return EXIT_CODE_WARC2ZIM_CHECK_FAILED
 
     # make temp dir for this crawl
+    global temp_root_dir  # noqa: PLW0603
     if zimit_args.build:
         temp_root_dir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(dir=zimit_args.build, prefix=".tmp"))
     else:
         temp_root_dir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(dir=zimit_args.output, prefix=".tmp"))
 
     if not zimit_args.keep:
-
-        def cleanup():
-            logger.info("")
-            logger.info("----------")
-            logger.info(f"Cleanup, removing temp dir: {temp_root_dir}")
-            shutil.rmtree(temp_root_dir)
-
         atexit.register(cleanup)
 
     # copy / download custom behaviors to one single folder and configure crawler
@@ -599,6 +616,7 @@ def run(raw_args):
             logger.error(
                 f"Crawl returned an error: {crawl.returncode}, scraper exiting"
             )
+            cancel_cleanup()
             return crawl.returncode
 
         if zimit_args.collection:
@@ -642,6 +660,11 @@ def run(raw_args):
         stats_content["partialZim"] = partial_zim
         stats.write_text(json.dumps(stats_content))
 
+    # also call cancel_cleanup when --keep, even if it is not supposed to be registered,
+    # so that we will display temporary files location just like in other situations
+    if warc2zim_exit_code or zimit_args.keep:
+        cancel_cleanup()
+
     return warc2zim_exit_code