diff --git a/manifests/database.pp b/manifests/database.pp
index 3709ab76..87db9ee6 100644
--- a/manifests/database.pp
+++ b/manifests/database.pp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # @api private
 class pulpcore::database (
   Integer[0] $timeout = 3600,
+  Boolean $always_run_migrations = true,
 ) {
   if $pulpcore::postgresql_manage_db {
     include postgresql::client
@@ -28,8 +29,14 @@
     Class['postgresql::server::service'] ~> Service['pulpcore-content.service']
   }
 
+  $migrate_unless = $always_run_migrations ? {
+    false   => 'pulpcore-manager migrate --check',
+    default => undef,
+  }
+
   pulpcore::admin { 'migrate --noinput':
     timeout     => $timeout,
+    unless      => $migrate_unless,
     refreshonly => false,
   }
 
diff --git a/spec/acceptance/hieradata/common.yaml b/spec/acceptance/hieradata/common.yaml
index 72518b13..411c62fb 100644
--- a/spec/acceptance/hieradata/common.yaml
+++ b/spec/acceptance/hieradata/common.yaml
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ apache::default_mods: false
 pulpcore::apache_https_cert: '/etc/pulpcore-certs/ca-cert.pem'
 pulpcore::apache_https_key: '/etc/pulpcore-certs/ca-key.pem'
 pulpcore::apache_https_ca: '/etc/pulpcore-certs/ca-cert.pem'
+pulpcore::database::always_run_migrations: false