diff --git a/backend/src/app-init.ts b/backend/src/app-init.ts
index 3f4263857..a9ac8e6da 100644
--- a/backend/src/app-init.ts
+++ b/backend/src/app-init.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { AuthConfig } from './config/auth.config';
 import { MediaConfig } from './config/media.config';
 import { ErrorExceptionMapping } from './errors/error-mapping';
 import { ConsoleLoggerService } from './logger/console-logger.service';
+import { runMigrations } from './migrate';
 import { SessionService } from './sessions/session.service';
 import { setupSessionMiddleware } from './utils/session';
 import { setupValidationPipe } from './utils/setup-pipes';
@@ -44,11 +45,9 @@ export async function setupApp(
     );
   }
 
-  logger.log('Starting database migrations... ', 'AppBootstrap');
   const knexConnectionToken = getConnectionToken();
   const knex: Knex = app.get<Knex>(knexConnectionToken);
-  await knex.migrate.latest();
-  logger.log('Finished database migrations... ', 'AppBootstrap');
+  await runMigrations(knex, logger);
 
   // Setup session handling
   setupSessionMiddleware(
diff --git a/backend/src/migrate.ts b/backend/src/migrate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa6add403
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/migrate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 The HedgeDoc developers (see AUTHORS file)
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+ */
+import { Knex } from 'knex';
+
+import { ConsoleLoggerService } from './logger/console-logger.service';
+
+interface CompletedMigration {
+  name: string;
+}
+
+interface PendingMigration {
+  file: string;
+  directory: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Runs the database migrations and informs the user about already completed and still pending ones
+ *
+ * @param knex The configured Knex instance to use
+ * @param logger The console logger service to use
+ */
+export async function runMigrations(
+  knex: Knex,
+  logger: ConsoleLoggerService,
+): Promise<void> {
+  logger.log('Checking for pending database migrations... ', 'runMigrations');
+  try {
+    const [completedMigrations, pendingMigrations] =
+      (await knex.migrate.list()) as [CompletedMigration[], PendingMigration[]];
+    logger.log(
+      `Found ${completedMigrations.length} already completed migrations and ${pendingMigrations.length} pending migrations.`,
+      'runMigrations',
+    );
+    for (const migration of completedMigrations) {
+      logger.log(
+        `Already applied migration ${migration.name}`,
+        'runMigrations',
+      );
+    }
+    for (const migration of pendingMigrations) {
+      logger.log(`Applying migration ${migration.file}`, 'runMigrations');
+      await knex.migrate.up();
+      logger.log('✅', 'runMigrations');
+    }
+  } catch (error: unknown) {
+    logger.error(
+      `Error while migrating database: ${String(error)}`,
+      'runMigrations',
+    );
+  }
+
+  logger.log('Finished database migrations... ', 'runMigrations');
+}