diff --git a/modules/completion/corfu/config.el b/modules/completion/corfu/config.el
index 475894fa5..7cd7b5173 100644
--- a/modules/completion/corfu/config.el
+++ b/modules/completion/corfu/config.el
@@ -55,8 +55,10 @@ use the minibuffer such as `query-replace'.")
         corfu-count 16
         corfu-max-width 120
         corfu-on-exact-match nil
-        corfu-quit-at-boundary (if (modulep! +orderless) 'separator t)
-        corfu-quit-no-match (if (modulep! +orderless) 'separator t)
+        corfu-quit-at-boundary (if (or (modulep! :completion vertico)
+                                       (modulep! +orderless))
+                                   'separator t)
+        corfu-quit-no-match corfu-quit-at-boundary
         tab-always-indent 'complete)
   (add-to-list 'completion-category-overrides `(lsp-capf (styles ,@completion-styles)))
   (add-to-list 'corfu-auto-commands #'lispy-colon)
diff --git a/modules/completion/corfu/packages.el b/modules/completion/corfu/packages.el
index cf45a992f..3c0e58714 100644
--- a/modules/completion/corfu/packages.el
+++ b/modules/completion/corfu/packages.el
@@ -5,8 +5,12 @@
 (package! cape :pin "a397a0c92de38277b7f835fa999fac400a764908")
 (when (modulep! +icons)
   (package! nerd-icons-corfu :pin "7077bb76fefc15aed967476406a19dc5c2500b3c"))
-(when (modulep! +orderless)
-  (package! orderless :pin "b24748093b00b37c3a572c4909f61c08fa27504f"))
+(when (and (not (modulep! :completion vertico))
+           (modulep! +orderless))
+  ;; enabling +orderless without vertico should be fairly niche enough that to
+  ;; save contributor headaches we should only pin vertico's orderless and leave
+  ;; this one unpinned
+  (package! orderless))
 (when (modulep! :os tty)
   (package! corfu-terminal :pin "501548c3d51f926c687e8cd838c5865ec45d03cc"))
 (when (modulep! :editor snippets)