diff --git a/MaxText/pyconfig.py b/MaxText/pyconfig.py
index 7947b3ef1..c0bbe6440 100644
--- a/MaxText/pyconfig.py
+++ b/MaxText/pyconfig.py
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ def validate_model_call_mode(s: str) -> None:
 def validate_prefill_and_target_lengths(max_prefill_length: int, max_target_length: int) -> None:
   if max_prefill_length <= 0:
     raise ValueError(f"Invalid max_prefill_predict_length {max_prefill_length}, it should be a positive number")
-  if max_target_length <= max_prefill_length:
+  if max_target_length < max_prefill_length:
+    # valid max_target_length = max_prefill_length for existing logit checks
     raise ValueError(
         f"Invalid max_target_length {max_target_length}, this should be sum of "
         f"max_prefill_predict_length ({max_prefill_length}) and max output length expected."