diff --git a/admin/cli/upgrade.php b/admin/cli/upgrade.php
index c3e630b176b..2b9fae766a2 100644
--- a/admin/cli/upgrade.php
+++ b/admin/cli/upgrade.php
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ if ($version < $CFG->version) {
 $oldversion = "$CFG->release ($CFG->version)";
 $newversion = "$release ($version)";
 
+if (!moodle_needs_upgrading()) {
+    cli_error(get_string('cliupgradenoneed', 'core_admin', $newversion), 63);
+}
+
 // test environment first
 if (!check_moodle_environment(normalize_version($release), $environment_results, false, ENV_SELECT_RELEASE)) {
     $errors = environment_get_errors($environment_results);
diff --git a/lang/en/admin.php b/lang/en/admin.php
index 86b896db32d..6f70f51c11d 100644
--- a/lang/en/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en/admin.php
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ $string['cliunknowoption'] = 'Unrecognised options:
   {$a}
 Please use --help option.';
 $string['cliupgradefinished'] = 'Command line upgrade completed successfully.';
+$string['cliupgradenoneed'] = 'No upgrade needed for the installed version {$a}. Thanks for coming anyway!';
 $string['cliyesnoprompt'] = 'type y (means yes) or n (means no)';
 $string['commentsperpage'] = 'Comments displayed per page';
 $string['commonfiltersettings'] = 'Common filter settings';