diff --git a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/policy.py b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/policy.py
index 03a89f8046..33bbec977b 100644
--- a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/policy.py
+++ b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/policy.py
@@ -152,7 +152,9 @@ def get_current_step(self):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def checkpoint(self, checkpoint_path: str, settings: SerializationSettings) -> None:
+    def checkpoint(
+        self, checkpoint_path: str, settings: Optional[SerializationSettings]
+    ) -> None:
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
diff --git a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/tf_policy.py b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/tf_policy.py
index b7c460c35f..413e6ac0b9 100644
--- a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/tf_policy.py
+++ b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/policy/tf_policy.py
@@ -417,12 +417,15 @@ def get_update_vars(self):
         """
         return list(self.update_dict.keys())
 
-    def checkpoint(self, checkpoint_path: str, settings: SerializationSettings) -> None:
+    def checkpoint(
+        self, checkpoint_path: str, settings: Optional[SerializationSettings]
+    ) -> None:
         """
         Checkpoints the policy on disk.
 
         :param checkpoint_path: filepath to write the checkpoint
-        :param settings: SerializationSettings for exporting the model.
+        :param settings: SerializationSettings for exporting the model. If None,
+          the model will not be saved.
         """
         # Save the TF checkpoint and graph definition
         with self.graph.as_default():
@@ -431,8 +434,9 @@ def checkpoint(self, checkpoint_path: str, settings: SerializationSettings) -> N
             tf.train.write_graph(
                 self.graph, self.model_path, "raw_graph_def.pb", as_text=False
             )
-        # also save the policy so we have optimized model files for each checkpoint
-        self.save(checkpoint_path, settings)
+        if settings is not None:
+            # also save the policy so we have optimized model files for each checkpoint
+            self.save(checkpoint_path, settings)
 
     def save(self, output_filepath: str, settings: SerializationSettings) -> None:
         """
diff --git a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/sac/trainer.py b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/sac/trainer.py
index cdaab0de40..527d544b2c 100644
--- a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/sac/trainer.py
+++ b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/sac/trainer.py
@@ -76,12 +76,12 @@ def __init__(
 
         self.checkpoint_replay_buffer = self.hyperparameters.save_replay_buffer
 
-    def _checkpoint(self) -> NNCheckpoint:
+    def _checkpoint(self, save_model: bool) -> NNCheckpoint:
         """
         Writes a checkpoint model to memory
         Overrides the default to save the replay buffer.
         """
-        ckpt = super()._checkpoint()
+        ckpt = super()._checkpoint(save_model)
         if self.checkpoint_replay_buffer:
             self.save_replay_buffer()
         return ckpt
diff --git a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/trainer/rl_trainer.py b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/trainer/rl_trainer.py
index 2ab44bcf1f..15a55bec50 100644
--- a/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/trainer/rl_trainer.py
+++ b/ml-agents/mlagents/trainers/trainer/rl_trainer.py
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def _policy_mean_reward(self) -> Optional[float]:
             return sum(rewards) / len(rewards)
 
     @timed
-    def _checkpoint(self) -> NNCheckpoint:
+    def _checkpoint(self, save_model: bool) -> NNCheckpoint:
         """
         Checkpoints the policy associated with this trainer.
         """
@@ -107,8 +107,11 @@ def _checkpoint(self) -> NNCheckpoint:
             )
         policy = list(self.policies.values())[0]
         model_path = policy.model_path
-        settings = SerializationSettings(model_path, self.brain_name)
         checkpoint_path = os.path.join(model_path, f"{self.brain_name}-{self.step}")
+        # Don't pass SerializationSettings if we're not going to save the model.
+        settings = (
+            SerializationSettings(model_path, self.brain_name) if save_model else None
+        )
         policy.checkpoint(checkpoint_path, settings)
         new_checkpoint = NNCheckpoint(
             int(self.step),
@@ -132,7 +135,7 @@ def save_model(self) -> None:
             )
         policy = list(self.policies.values())[0]
         settings = SerializationSettings(policy.model_path, self.brain_name)
-        model_checkpoint = self._checkpoint()
+        model_checkpoint = self._checkpoint(save_model=False)
         final_checkpoint = attr.evolve(
             model_checkpoint, file_path=f"{policy.model_path}.nn"
         )
@@ -207,7 +210,7 @@ def _maybe_save_model(self, step_after_process: int) -> None:
                 self.trainer_settings.checkpoint_interval
             )
         if step_after_process >= self._next_save_step and self.get_step != 0:
-            self._checkpoint()
+            self._checkpoint(save_model=True)
 
     def advance(self) -> None:
         """