diff --git a/zerver/actions/alert_words.py b/zerver/actions/alert_words.py
index f21b273746..4a0430ae81 100644
--- a/zerver/actions/alert_words.py
+++ b/zerver/actions/alert_words.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ def do_add_alert_words(user_profile: UserProfile, alert_words: Iterable[str]) ->
     notify_alert_words(user_profile, words)
 
 
+@transaction.atomic(savepoint=False)
 def do_remove_alert_words(user_profile: UserProfile, alert_words: Iterable[str]) -> None:
     words = remove_user_alert_words(user_profile, alert_words)
     notify_alert_words(user_profile, words)
diff --git a/zerver/lib/alert_words.py b/zerver/lib/alert_words.py
index a5d686c654..b955f7cac9 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/alert_words.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/alert_words.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def add_user_alert_words(user_profile: UserProfile, new_words: Iterable[str]) ->
     return user_alert_words(user_profile)
 
 
-@transaction.atomic
+@transaction.atomic(savepoint=False)
 def remove_user_alert_words(user_profile: UserProfile, delete_words: Iterable[str]) -> list[str]:
     # TODO: Ideally, this would be a bulk query, but Django doesn't have a `__iexact`.
     # We can clean this up if/when PostgreSQL has more native support for case-insensitive fields.