diff --git a/src/ostree/ot-admin-builtin-deploy.c b/src/ostree/ot-admin-builtin-deploy.c
index 8156cc153c..6be28cf027 100644
--- a/src/ostree/ot-admin-builtin-deploy.c
+++ b/src/ostree/ot-admin-builtin-deploy.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ static gboolean opt_retain;
 static gboolean opt_stage;
 static gboolean opt_retain_pending;
 static gboolean opt_retain_rollback;
+static gboolean opt_retain_previous;
 static gboolean opt_not_as_default;
 static gboolean opt_no_prune;
 static gboolean opt_no_merge;
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ static GOptionEntry options[] = {
   { "stage", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_stage, "Complete deployment at OS shutdown", NULL },
   { "retain-pending", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_retain_pending, "Do not delete pending deployments", NULL },
   { "retain-rollback", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_retain_rollback, "Do not delete rollback deployments", NULL },
+  { "retain-previous-version", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_retain_previous, "Do not delete previous deployment if version differs from new deployment", NULL },
   { "not-as-default", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_not_as_default, "Append rather than prepend new deployment", NULL },
   { "karg-proc-cmdline", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_kernel_proc_cmdline, "Import current /proc/cmdline", NULL },
   { "karg", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &opt_kernel_argv, "Set kernel argument, like root=/dev/sda1; this overrides any earlier argument with the same name", "NAME=VALUE" },
@@ -195,6 +197,7 @@ ot_admin_builtin_deploy (int argc, char **argv, OstreeCommandInvocation *invocat
   OstreeSysrootDeployTreeOpts opts = {
     .override_kernel_argv = kargs_strv,
     .overlay_initrds = overlay_initrd_chksums ? (char**)overlay_initrd_chksums->pdata : NULL,
+    .finalization_flags = opt_retain_previous ? OSTREE_SYSROOT_SIMPLE_WRITE_DEPLOYMENT_FLAGS_RETAIN_PREVIOUS_VERSION : 0,
   };
 
   g_autoptr(OstreeDeployment) new_deployment = NULL;
@@ -205,7 +208,7 @@ ot_admin_builtin_deploy (int argc, char **argv, OstreeCommandInvocation *invocat
       if (opt_not_as_default)
         return glnx_throw (error, "--stage cannot currently be combined with --not-as-default");
       /* use old API if we can to exercise it in CI */
-      if (!overlay_initrd_chksums)
+      if (!overlay_initrd_chksums && !opt_retain_previous)
         {
           if (!ostree_sysroot_stage_tree (sysroot, opt_osname, revision, origin,
                                           merge_deployment, kargs_strv, &new_deployment,
@@ -250,6 +253,8 @@ ot_admin_builtin_deploy (int argc, char **argv, OstreeCommandInvocation *invocat
             flags |= OSTREE_SYSROOT_SIMPLE_WRITE_DEPLOYMENT_FLAGS_RETAIN_PENDING;
           if (opt_retain_rollback)
             flags |= OSTREE_SYSROOT_SIMPLE_WRITE_DEPLOYMENT_FLAGS_RETAIN_ROLLBACK;
+          if (opt_retain_previous)
+            flags |= OSTREE_SYSROOT_SIMPLE_WRITE_DEPLOYMENT_FLAGS_RETAIN_PREVIOUS_VERSION;
         }
 
       if (opt_not_as_default)