diff --git a/pkg/backfill/backfill.go b/pkg/backfill/backfill.go
index 131034461..c8f266062 100644
--- a/pkg/backfill/backfill.go
+++ b/pkg/backfill/backfill.go
@@ -205,11 +205,11 @@ func getRowCount(ctx context.Context, conn db.DB, tableName string) (int64, erro
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("getting current schema: %w", err)
 	}
-	defer rows.Close()
-
 	if err := db.ScanFirstValue(rows, &currentSchema); err != nil {
+		rows.Close()
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("scanning current schema: %w", err)
 	}
+	rows.Close()
 
 	var total int64
 	rows, err = conn.QueryContext(ctx, `
@@ -220,8 +220,11 @@ func getRowCount(ctx context.Context, conn db.DB, tableName string) (int64, erro
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("getting row count estimate for %q: %w", tableName, err)
 	}
 	if err := db.ScanFirstValue(rows, &total); err != nil {
+		rows.Close()
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("scanning row count estimate for %q: %w", tableName, err)
 	}
+	rows.Close()
+
 	if total > 0 {
 		return total, nil
 	}
@@ -232,8 +235,10 @@ func getRowCount(ctx context.Context, conn db.DB, tableName string) (int64, erro
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("getting row count for %q: %w", tableName, err)
 	}
 	if err := db.ScanFirstValue(rows, &total); err != nil {
+		rows.Close()
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("scanning row count for %q: %w", tableName, err)
 	}
+	rows.Close()
 
 	return total, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/backfill/backfill_test.go b/pkg/backfill/backfill_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..936f695c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/backfill/backfill_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package backfill_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"database/sql"
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/xataio/pgroll/internal/testutils"
+	"github.com/xataio/pgroll/pkg/backfill"
+	"github.com/xataio/pgroll/pkg/db"
+)
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	testutils.SharedTestMain(m)
+}
+
+func TestGetRowCountDoesNotLeakConnections(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	testutils.WithConnectionToContainer(t, func(conn *sql.DB, connStr string) {
+		// Use a short timeout so that if connections are leaked and the pool is
+		// exhausted, the test fails quickly instead of hanging.
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+		defer cancel()
+
+		tableName := "test_row_count"
+		_, err := conn.ExecContext(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("CREATE TABLE %s (id INT PRIMARY KEY)", tableName))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		// Call getRowCount many times with a small pool to verify no connection leak.
+		// With only 5 max connections, leaked connections would quickly cause errors.
+		conn2, err := sql.Open("postgres", connStr)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		defer conn2.Close()
+
+		conn2.SetMaxOpenConns(5)
+		rdb := &db.RDB{DB: conn2}
+
+		for i := 0; i < 20; i++ {
+			_, err := backfill.GetRowCount(ctx, rdb, tableName)
+			require.NoError(t, err, "iteration %d: getRowCount should not fail due to connection leak", i)
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/backfill/export_test.go b/pkg/backfill/export_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a930c18a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/backfill/export_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package backfill
+
+var GetRowCount = getRowCount
diff --git a/pkg/migrations/dbactions.go b/pkg/migrations/dbactions.go
index 661a2549c..0f3f0177e 100644
--- a/pkg/migrations/dbactions.go
+++ b/pkg/migrations/dbactions.go
@@ -500,6 +500,8 @@ func (a *createUniqueIndexConcurrentlyAction) isIndexInProgress(ctx context.Cont
 		// In that case, we can safely return false.
 		return false, nil
 	}
+	defer rows.Close()
+
 	var isInProgress bool
 	if err := db.ScanFirstValue(rows, &isInProgress); err != nil {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("scanning index in progress with name %q: %w", quotedQualifiedIndexName, err)
@@ -521,6 +523,8 @@ func (a *createUniqueIndexConcurrentlyAction) isIndexValid(ctx context.Context,
 		// In that case, we can safely return true.
 		return true, nil
 	}
+	defer rows.Close()
+
 	var isValid bool
 	if err := db.ScanFirstValue(rows, &isValid); err != nil {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("scanning index with name %q: %w", quotedQualifiedIndexName, err)
diff --git a/pkg/state/history.go b/pkg/state/history.go
index e441f67ce..64d0310b1 100644
--- a/pkg/state/history.go
+++ b/pkg/state/history.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ func (s *State) SchemaHistory(ctx context.Context, schema string) ([]HistoryEntr
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	defer rows.Close()
 
 	var entries []HistoryEntry
 	for rows.Next() {