diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index 57cdd2b8123..d13f48929a9 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -677,7 +677,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
                             trackTranslogLocation.set(true);
                         }
                     }
-                    refresh("realtime_get", SearcherScope.INTERNAL, true);
+                    assert versionValue.seqNo >= 0 : versionValue;
+                    refreshIfNeeded("realtime_get", versionValue.seqNo);
                 }
                 scope = SearcherScope.INTERNAL;
             } else {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
index 5619b26b7de..7a9d10d3418 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.BrokenBarrierException;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.CyclicBarrier;
+import java.util.concurrent.Phaser;
 import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
@@ -6094,4 +6095,58 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends EngineTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testRealtimeGetOnlyRefreshIfNeeded() throws Exception {
+        final AtomicInteger refreshCount = new AtomicInteger();
+        final ReferenceManager.RefreshListener refreshListener = new ReferenceManager.RefreshListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void beforeRefresh() {
+
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void afterRefresh(boolean didRefresh) {
+                if (didRefresh) {
+                    refreshCount.incrementAndGet();
+                }
+            }
+        };
+        try (Store store = createStore()) {
+            final EngineConfig config = config(defaultSettings, store, createTempDir(), newMergePolicy(), null,
+                refreshListener, null, null, engine.config().getCircuitBreakerService());
+            try (InternalEngine engine = createEngine(config)) {
+                int numDocs = randomIntBetween(10, 100);
+                Set<String> ids = new HashSet<>();
+                for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+                    String id = Integer.toString(i);
+                    engine.index(indexForDoc(createParsedDoc(id, null)));
+                    ids.add(id);
+                }
+                final int refreshCountBeforeGet = refreshCount.get();
+                Thread[] getters = new Thread[randomIntBetween(1, 4)];
+                Phaser phaser = new Phaser(getters.length + 1);
+                for (int t = 0; t < getters.length; t++) {
+                    getters[t] = new Thread(() -> {
+                        phaser.arriveAndAwaitAdvance();
+                        int iters = randomIntBetween(1, 10);
+                        for (int i = 0; i < iters; i++) {
+                            ParsedDocument doc = createParsedDoc(randomFrom(ids), null);
+                            try (Engine.GetResult getResult = engine.get(newGet(true, doc), engine::acquireSearcher)) {
+                                assertThat(getResult.exists(), equalTo(true));
+                                assertThat(getResult.docIdAndVersion(), notNullValue());
+                            }
+                        }
+                    });
+                    getters[t].start();
+                }
+                phaser.arriveAndAwaitAdvance();
+                for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+                    engine.index(indexForDoc(createParsedDoc("more-" + i, null)));
+                }
+                for (Thread getter : getters) {
+                    getter.join();
+                }
+                assertThat(refreshCount.get(), lessThanOrEqualTo(refreshCountBeforeGet + 1));
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }