diff --git a/server/model/monitor.js b/server/model/monitor.js
index 3b8d89dd4..2719b89a0 100644
--- a/server/model/monitor.js
+++ b/server/model/monitor.js
@@ -1857,6 +1857,15 @@ class Monitor extends BeanModel {
                 }
             }
         }
+
+        if (this.type === "mongodb" && this.databaseQuery) {
+            // Validate that databaseQuery is valid JSON
+            try {
+                JSON.parse(this.databaseQuery);
+            } catch (error) {
+                throw new Error(`Invalid JSON in database query: ${error.message}`);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/monitor-types/mongodb.js b/server/monitor-types/mongodb.js
index cf2ca4ca3..7a78edab4 100644
--- a/server/monitor-types/mongodb.js
+++ b/server/monitor-types/mongodb.js
@@ -12,11 +12,8 @@ class MongodbMonitorType extends MonitorType {
     async check(monitor, heartbeat, _server) {
         let command = { ping: 1 };
         if (monitor.databaseQuery) {
-            try {
-                command = JSON.parse(monitor.databaseQuery);
-            } catch (error) {
-                throw new Error(`Invalid JSON in database query: ${error.message}`);
-            }
+            // databaseQuery is validated in Monitor.validate(), so we can safely parse it here
+            command = JSON.parse(monitor.databaseQuery);
         }
 
         let result = await this.runMongodbCommand(monitor.databaseConnectionString, command);