diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
index df2ba8714d9..7b91a42ff64 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
@@ -278,13 +278,30 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunner {
         return newClusterStateBuilder;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Conditionally updates cluster state with new step info. The new cluster state is only
+     * built if the step info has changed, otherwise the same old <code>clusterState</code> is
+     * returned
+     *
+     * @param index the index to modify
+     * @param clusterState the cluster state to modify
+     * @param stepInfo the new step info to update
+     * @return Updated cluster state with <code>stepInfo</code> if changed, otherwise the same cluster state
+     *         if no changes to step info exist
+     * @throws IOException if parsing step info fails
+     */
     static ClusterState addStepInfoToClusterState(Index index, ClusterState clusterState, ToXContentObject stepInfo) throws IOException {
         IndexMetaData idxMeta = clusterState.getMetaData().index(index);
-        XContentBuilder infoXContentBuilder = JsonXContent.contentBuilder();
-        stepInfo.toXContent(infoXContentBuilder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
-        String stepInfoString = BytesReference.bytes(infoXContentBuilder).utf8ToString();
+        final String stepInfoString;
+        try (XContentBuilder infoXContentBuilder = JsonXContent.contentBuilder()) {
+            stepInfo.toXContent(infoXContentBuilder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
+            stepInfoString = BytesReference.bytes(infoXContentBuilder).utf8ToString();
+        }
+        if (stepInfoString.equals(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_STEP_INFO_SETTING.get(idxMeta.getSettings()))) {
+            return clusterState;
+        }
         Settings.Builder indexSettings = Settings.builder().put(idxMeta.getSettings())
-                .put(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_STEP_INFO_SETTING.getKey(), stepInfoString);
+            .put(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_STEP_INFO_SETTING.getKey(), stepInfoString);
         ClusterState.Builder newClusterStateBuilder = newClusterStateWithIndexSettings(index, clusterState, indexSettings);
         return newClusterStateBuilder.build();
     }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
index efa1f2e8d70..be37809f2f0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
@@ -820,6 +820,8 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunnerTests extends ESTestCase {
         Index index = clusterState.metaData().index(indexName).getIndex();
         ClusterState newClusterState = IndexLifecycleRunner.addStepInfoToClusterState(index, clusterState, stepInfo);
         assertClusterStateStepInfo(clusterState, index, currentStep, newClusterState, stepInfo);
+        ClusterState runAgainClusterState = IndexLifecycleRunner.addStepInfoToClusterState(index, newClusterState, stepInfo);
+        assertSame(newClusterState, runAgainClusterState);
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")