diff --git a/src/service/admin.rs b/src/service/admin.rs
index a1b81ebb..81a5c017 100644
--- a/src/service/admin.rs
+++ b/src/service/admin.rs
@@ -189,6 +189,11 @@ enum AdminCommand {
     ///
     /// This media may still be fetched and cached again in the future.
     DeleteRemoteMedia {
+        /// Output the number of media objects that would be deleted, but do
+        /// not actually delete anything.
+        #[clap(short, long)]
+        dry_run: bool,
+
         /// If specified, only delete remote media from this origin.
         ///
         /// If not specified, all remote media will be deleted.
@@ -815,6 +820,7 @@ impl Service {
                 RoomMessageEventContent::text_plain("Media deleted.")
             }
             AdminCommand::DeleteRemoteMedia {
+                dry_run,
                 origin,
             } => {
                 if origin.as_deref() == Some(services().globals.server_name()) {
@@ -851,12 +857,17 @@ impl Service {
                     }
 
                     count += 1;
-                    services().media.delete(mxc).await?;
+                    if !dry_run {
+                        services().media.delete(mxc).await?;
+                    }
                 }
 
-                RoomMessageEventContent::text_plain(format!(
-                    "{count} media objects deleted."
-                ))
+                let message = if dry_run {
+                    format!("{count} media objects would be deleted.")
+                } else {
+                    format!("{count} media objects deleted.")
+                };
+                RoomMessageEventContent::text_plain(message)
             }
             AdminCommand::DeactivateUser {
                 leave_rooms,