diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/connection/establish.rs b/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/connection/establish.rs
index 4c640bfb..d955cf23 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/connection/establish.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/connection/establish.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use std::ptr::{null, null_mut};
 use libsqlite3_sys::{
     sqlite3_busy_timeout, sqlite3_extended_result_codes, sqlite3_open_v2, SQLITE_OK,
     SQLITE_OPEN_CREATE, SQLITE_OPEN_MEMORY, SQLITE_OPEN_NOMUTEX, SQLITE_OPEN_PRIVATECACHE,
-    SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE,
+    SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY, SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE,
 };
 use sqlx_rt::blocking;
 
@@ -33,8 +33,14 @@ pub(super) async fn establish(options: &SqliteConnectOptions) -> Result<SqliteCo
     // By default, we connect to an in-memory database.
     // [SQLITE_OPEN_NOMUTEX] will instruct [sqlite3_open_v2] to return an error if it
     // cannot satisfy our wish for a thread-safe, lock-free connection object
-    let mut flags =
-        SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE | SQLITE_OPEN_CREATE | SQLITE_OPEN_NOMUTEX | SQLITE_OPEN_PRIVATECACHE;
+
+    let mut flags = SQLITE_OPEN_NOMUTEX | SQLITE_OPEN_PRIVATECACHE;
+
+    flags |= if options.read_only {
+        SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY
+    } else {
+        SQLITE_OPEN_READWRITE | SQLITE_OPEN_CREATE
+    };
 
     if options.in_memory {
         flags |= SQLITE_OPEN_MEMORY;
diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/options.rs b/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/options.rs
index 9387fd37..dd1695d0 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/options.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/sqlite/options.rs
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ impl FromStr for SqliteJournalMode {
 pub struct SqliteConnectOptions {
     pub(crate) filename: PathBuf,
     pub(crate) in_memory: bool,
+    pub(crate) read_only: bool,
     pub(crate) journal_mode: SqliteJournalMode,
     pub(crate) foreign_keys: bool,
     pub(crate) statement_cache_capacity: usize,
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@ impl SqliteConnectOptions {
         Self {
             filename: PathBuf::from(":memory:"),
             in_memory: false,
+            read_only: false,
             foreign_keys: true,
             statement_cache_capacity: 100,
             journal_mode: SqliteJournalMode::Wal,
@@ -99,6 +101,13 @@ impl SqliteConnectOptions {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Sets the [access mode](https://www.sqlite.org/c3ref/open.html) to open the database
+    /// for read-only access.
+    pub fn read_only(mut self, read_only: bool) -> Self {
+        self.read_only = read_only;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Sets the capacity of the connection's statement cache in a number of stored
     /// distinct statements. Caching is handled using LRU, meaning when the
     /// amount of queries hits the defined limit, the oldest statement will get