diff --git a/spacy/default_config_pretraining.cfg b/spacy/default_config_pretraining.cfg
index 16f767772..d70ecf04c 100644
--- a/spacy/default_config_pretraining.cfg
+++ b/spacy/default_config_pretraining.cfg
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ raw_text = null
 max_epochs = 1000
 dropout = 0.2
 n_save_every = null
+n_save_epoch = null
 component = "tok2vec"
 layer = ""
 corpus = "corpora.pretrain"
diff --git a/spacy/schemas.py b/spacy/schemas.py
index 83623b104..bd3f0ecf0 100644
--- a/spacy/schemas.py
+++ b/spacy/schemas.py
@@ -351,7 +351,8 @@ class ConfigSchemaPretrain(BaseModel):
     # fmt: off
     max_epochs: StrictInt = Field(..., title="Maximum number of epochs to train for")
     dropout: StrictFloat = Field(..., title="Dropout rate")
-    n_save_every: Optional[StrictInt] = Field(..., title="Saving frequency")
+    n_save_every: Optional[StrictInt] = Field(..., title="Saving additional temporary model after n batches within an epoch")
+    n_save_epoch: Optional[StrictInt] = Field(..., title="Saving model after every n epoch")
     optimizer: Optimizer = Field(..., title="The optimizer to use")
     corpus: StrictStr = Field(..., title="Path in the config to the training data")
     batcher: Batcher = Field(..., title="Batcher for the training data")
diff --git a/spacy/training/pretrain.py b/spacy/training/pretrain.py
index 6d7850212..88f1dc0bb 100644
--- a/spacy/training/pretrain.py
+++ b/spacy/training/pretrain.py
@@ -48,7 +48,10 @@ def pretrain(
     objective = model.attrs["loss"]
     # TODO: move this to logger function?
     tracker = ProgressTracker(frequency=10000)
-    msg.divider(f"Pre-training tok2vec layer - starting at epoch {epoch_resume}")
+    if P["n_save_epoch"]:
+        msg.divider(f"Pre-training tok2vec layer - starting at epoch {epoch_resume} - saving every {P['n_save_epoch']} epoch")
+    else:
+        msg.divider(f"Pre-training tok2vec layer - starting at epoch {epoch_resume}")
     row_settings = {"widths": (3, 10, 10, 6, 4), "aligns": ("r", "r", "r", "r", "r")}
     msg.row(("#", "# Words", "Total Loss", "Loss", "w/s"), **row_settings)
 
@@ -77,7 +80,12 @@ def pretrain(
                 msg.row(progress, **row_settings)
             if P["n_save_every"] and (batch_id % P["n_save_every"] == 0):
                 _save_model(epoch, is_temp=True)
-        _save_model(epoch)
+
+        if P["n_save_epoch"]:
+            if epoch % P["n_save_epoch"] == 0 or epoch == P["max_epochs"] - 1:
+                _save_model(epoch)
+        else:
+            _save_model(epoch)
         tracker.epoch_loss = 0.0