diff --git a/pkg/services/ngalert/api/api_prometheus.go b/pkg/services/ngalert/api/api_prometheus.go
index a71f67819d7..22d09a91668 100644
--- a/pkg/services/ngalert/api/api_prometheus.go
+++ b/pkg/services/ngalert/api/api_prometheus.go
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ func PrepareRuleGroupStatuses(log log.Logger, manager state.AlertInstanceManager
 		}
 
 		if nextToken != "" && !foundToken {
-			if nextToken != getRuleGroupNextToken(rg.Folder, rg.GroupKey.RuleGroup) {
+			if !tokenGreaterThanOrEqual(getRuleGroupNextToken(rg.Folder, rg.GroupKey.RuleGroup), nextToken) {
 				continue
 			}
 			foundToken = true
@@ -394,6 +394,14 @@ func getRuleGroupNextToken(namespace, group string) string {
 	return base64.URLEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(namespace + "/" + group))
 }
 
+// Returns true if tokenA >= tokenB
+func tokenGreaterThanOrEqual(tokenA string, tokenB string) bool {
+	decodedTokenA, _ := base64.URLEncoding.DecodeString(tokenA)
+	decodedTokenB, _ := base64.URLEncoding.DecodeString(tokenB)
+
+	return string(decodedTokenA) >= string(decodedTokenB)
+}
+
 type ruleGroup struct {
 	Folder   string
 	GroupKey ngmodels.AlertRuleGroupKey