diff --git a/builtin/grep.c b/builtin/grep.c
index 335f25d0ad..abc440023f 100644
--- a/builtin/grep.c
+++ b/builtin/grep.c
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ int cmd_grep(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (!show_in_pager)
+	if (!show_in_pager && !opt.status_only)
 		setup_pager();
 
 	if (!use_index && (untracked || cached))