diff --git a/backend/provisioner/dev_provisioner.go b/backend/provisioner/dev_provisioner.go
index e8ee39ec2..6855961f7 100644
--- a/backend/provisioner/dev_provisioner.go
+++ b/backend/provisioner/dev_provisioner.go
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ func provisionTopic() InMemResourceProvisionerFn {
 			}
 		} else if topicMetas[0].Err != sarama.ErrNoError {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to describe topic %q: %w", topicID, topicMetas[0].Err)
-		} else if len(topicMetas[0].Partitions) != partitions {
+		} else if len(topicMetas[0].Partitions) > partitions {
 			var plural string
 			if len(topicMetas[0].Partitions) == 1 {
 				plural = "partition"
@@ -234,6 +234,10 @@ func provisionTopic() InMemResourceProvisionerFn {
 				plural = "partitions"
 			}
 			logger.Warnf("Using existing topic %s with %d %s instead of %d", topicID, len(topicMetas[0].Partitions), plural, partitions)
+		} else if len(topicMetas[0].Partitions) < partitions {
+			if err := admin.CreatePartitions(topicID, int32(partitions), nil, false); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to increase partitions: %w", err)
+			}
 		}
 
 		return &schema.TopicRuntimeEvent{