diff --git a/src/bin/sage-runtests b/src/bin/sage-runtests
index bc8032f30b7..191e3a54095 100755
--- a/src/bin/sage-runtests
+++ b/src/bin/sage-runtests
@@ -145,21 +145,22 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     DC = DocTestController(args, args.filenames)
     err = DC.run()
 
-    try:
-        exit_code_pytest = 0
-        import pytest
-        pytest_options = ["--import-mode", "importlib"]
-        if args.verbose:
-            pytest_options.append("-v")
-        exit_code_pytest = pytest.main(pytest_options + args.filenames)
-        if exit_code_pytest == 5:
-            # Exit code 5 means there were no test files, pass in this case
+    if "pytest" in DC.options.optional:
+        try:
             exit_code_pytest = 0
-
-    except ModuleNotFoundError:
-        print("Pytest is not installed, skip checking tests that rely on it.")
-
-    if err == 0:
-        sys.exit(exit_code_pytest)
-    else:
-        sys.exit(err)
+            import pytest
+            pytest_options = ["--import-mode", "importlib"]
+            if args.verbose:
+                pytest_options.append("-v")
+            exit_code_pytest = pytest.main(pytest_options + args.filenames)
+            if exit_code_pytest == 5:
+                # Exit code 5 means there were no test files, pass in this case
+                exit_code_pytest = 0
+
+        except ModuleNotFoundError:
+            print("Pytest is not installed, skip checking tests that rely on it.")
+
+        if err == 0:
+            sys.exit(exit_code_pytest)
+
+    sys.exit(err)