diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/search/bleve.go b/pkg/storage/unified/search/bleve.go
index b0ab36e36e1..6a22a96590f 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/search/bleve.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/search/bleve.go
@@ -1273,7 +1273,7 @@ func (b *bleveIndex) updateIndexWithLatestModifications(ctx context.Context, req
 
 	startTime := time.Now()
 	listRV, docs, err := b.updaterFn(ctx, b, sinceRV)
-	if err == nil && listRV > 0 {
+	if err == nil && listRV > 0 && listRV != sinceRV {
 		err = b.updateResourceVersion(listRV) // updates b.resourceVersion
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/sql/backend.go b/pkg/storage/unified/sql/backend.go
index be6789844e6..6a567dbb2c5 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/sql/backend.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/sql/backend.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
-	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/util/sqlite"
 	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5/pgconn"
 	"github.com/lib/pq"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
@@ -20,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/util/sqlite"
+
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-app-sdk/logging"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/storage/unified/resource"
@@ -642,21 +643,34 @@ func (b *backend) ListModifiedSince(ctx context.Context, key resource.Namespaced
 		}
 	}
 
+	rollbackOnDefer := true
+	defer func() {
+		if rollbackOnDefer {
+			if terr := tx.Rollback(); terr != nil {
+				b.log.Warn("Error rolling back transaction in ListModifiedSince", "error", terr)
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
 	// Fetch latest RV within the transaction
 	latestRv, err := b.fetchLatestRV(ctx, tx, b.dialect, key.Group, key.Resource)
 	if err != nil {
-		terr := tx.Rollback()
-		if terr != nil {
-			b.log.Warn("Error rolling back transaction in ListModifiedSince", "error", terr)
-		}
 		return 0, func(yield func(*resource.ModifiedResource, error) bool) {
 			yield(nil, err)
 		}
 	}
 
+	// If latest RV is the same as request RV, there's nothing to report, and we can avoid running another query.
+	if latestRv == sinceRv {
+		return 0, func(yield func(*resource.ModifiedResource, error) bool) { /* nothing to return */ }
+	}
+
 	// since results are sorted by name ASC and rv DESC, we can get away with tracking the last seen
 	lastSeen := ""
 
+	// We will rollback after iteration has finished.
+	rollbackOnDefer = false
+
 	// rollback transaction if iterator not called within 30 seconds
 	rollbackTimer := time.AfterFunc(30*time.Second, func() {
 		if err := tx.Rollback(); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, sql.ErrTxDone) {
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/testing/storage_backend.go b/pkg/storage/unified/testing/storage_backend.go
index 4b2b263bdb0..61b4ba260fd 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/testing/storage_backend.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/testing/storage_backend.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package test
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"iter"
 	"net/http"
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
@@ -523,11 +524,22 @@ func runTestIntegrationBackendListModifiedSince(t *testing.T, backend resource.S
 		latestRv, seq := backend.ListModifiedSince(ctx, key, rvDeleted)
 		require.GreaterOrEqual(t, latestRv, rvDeleted)
 
-		counter := 0
-		for range seq {
-			counter++
+		isEmpty(t, seq)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("no events for subsequent listModifiedSince calls", func(t *testing.T) {
+		key := resource.NamespacedResource{
+			Namespace: ns,
+			Group:     "group",
+			Resource:  "resource",
 		}
-		require.Equal(t, 0, counter) // no events should be returned
+		latestRv1, seq := backend.ListModifiedSince(ctx, key, rvDeleted)
+		require.GreaterOrEqual(t, latestRv1, rvDeleted)
+		isEmpty(t, seq)
+
+		latestRv2, seq := backend.ListModifiedSince(ctx, key, latestRv1)
+		require.GreaterOrEqual(t, latestRv1, latestRv2)
+		isEmpty(t, seq)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("will only return modified events for the given key", func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -582,6 +594,14 @@ func runTestIntegrationBackendListModifiedSince(t *testing.T, backend resource.S
 	})
 }
 
+func isEmpty(t *testing.T, seq iter.Seq2[*resource.ModifiedResource, error]) {
+	counter := 0
+	for range seq {
+		counter++
+	}
+	require.Equal(t, 0, counter)
+}
+
 func runTestIntegrationBackendListHistory(t *testing.T, backend resource.StorageBackend, nsPrefix string) {
 	ctx := testutil.NewTestContext(t, time.Now().Add(30*time.Second))
 	server := newServer(t, backend)