diff --git a/api_test/main.c b/api_test/main.c
index 9ad841c4a..f3fc9ffdf 100644
--- a/api_test/main.c
+++ b/api_test/main.c
@@ -731,7 +731,7 @@ static void render_commonmark(test_batch_runner *runner) {
   cmark_node *text = cmark_node_new(CMARK_NODE_TEXT);
   cmark_node_set_literal(text, "Hi");
   commonmark = cmark_render_commonmark(text, CMARK_OPT_DEFAULT, 0);
-  STR_EQ(runner, commonmark, "Hi\n", "render single inline node");
+  STR_EQ(runner, commonmark, "Hi", "render single inline node");
   free(commonmark);
 
   cmark_node_free(text);
diff --git a/src/render.c b/src/render.c
index 7fc0d9654..0404deba1 100644
--- a/src/render.c
+++ b/src/render.c
@@ -178,9 +178,11 @@ char *cmark_render(cmark_node *root, int options, int width,
     }
   }
 
-  // ensure final newline
-  if (renderer.buffer->size == 0 || renderer.buffer->ptr[renderer.buffer->size - 1] != '\n') {
-    cmark_strbuf_putc(renderer.buffer, '\n');
+  // If the root node is a block type (i.e. not inline), ensure there's a final newline:
+  if (cmark_node_is_block(root)) {
+    if (renderer.buffer->size == 0 || renderer.buffer->ptr[renderer.buffer->size - 1] != '\n') {
+      cmark_strbuf_putc(renderer.buffer, '\n');
+    }
   }
 
   result = (char *)cmark_strbuf_detach(renderer.buffer);