diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/net.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/net.cpp
index 6f167df3bb..4e6e26808d 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/net.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/net.cpp
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ void Net::finalizeNet()
     CV_TRACE_FUNCTION();
     CV_Assert(impl);
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (impl->mainGraph && impl->modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !impl->modelFileName.empty())
+    if (impl->useOrtEngine && impl->mainGraph && impl->modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !impl->modelFileName.empty())
     {
         impl->finalizeOrt();
         return;
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.hpp b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.hpp
index 435ad5b7f9..0b1e2673cb 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.hpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl.hpp
@@ -258,7 +258,8 @@ struct Net::Impl : public detail::NetImplBase
     std::shared_ptr<Ort::Env> ort_env;
     std::shared_ptr<Ort::Session> ort_session;
     std::shared_ptr<OrtNamesCache> ort_names_cache;
-    bool ortNeedsReinit = true;  // session needs (re)creation on next finalizeNet
+    bool useOrtEngine = false;   // true only when user explicitly selected ENGINE_ORT
+    bool ortNeedsReinit = false;  // session needs (re)creation on next finalizeNet
 #endif
 
     void allocateLayer(int lid, const LayersShapesMap& layersShapes);
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl2.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl2.cpp
index 4207a92eb7..3e5883c0a4 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl2.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl2.cpp
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ void Net::Impl::allocateLayerOutputs(
 void Net::Impl::forwardMainGraph(InputArrayOfArrays inputs, OutputArrayOfArrays outputs)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
         finalizeOrt();
     if (this->ort_session)
     {
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ void Net::Impl::forwardMainGraph(InputArrayOfArrays inputs, OutputArrayOfArrays
 void Net::Impl::forwardWithSingleOutput(const std::string& outname, OutputArrayOfArrays outputBlobs)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
         finalizeOrt();
     if (this->ort_session)
     {
@@ -763,7 +763,7 @@ void Net::Impl::forwardWithSingleOutput(const std::string& outname, OutputArrayO
 void Net::Impl::forwardWithMultipleOutputs(OutputArrayOfArrays outblobs, const std::vector<std::string>& outnames)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
         finalizeOrt();
     if (this->ort_session)
     {
@@ -947,7 +947,7 @@ void Net::Impl::traceArg(std::ostream& strm_, const char* prefix, size_t i, Arg
 void Net::Impl::setMainGraphInput(InputArray m, const std::string& inpname)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (ortNeedsReinit && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && ortNeedsReinit && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
     {
         Mat inputMat = m.getMat();
         if (inputMat.empty())
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl_backend.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl_backend.cpp
index 1326681409..659cf8927e 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/net_impl_backend.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/net_impl_backend.cpp
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ void Net::Impl::setPreferableBackend(Net& net, int backendId)
         return;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
     {
         preferableBackend = backendId;
         ortNeedsReinit = true;  // will be applied on finalizeNet()
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ void Net::Impl::setPreferableBackend(Net& net, int backendId)
 void Net::Impl::setPreferableTarget(int targetId)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_ONNXRUNTIME
-    if (mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
+    if (useOrtEngine && mainGraph && modelFormat == DNN_MODEL_ONNX && !modelFileName.empty())
     {
         int resolved = IS_DNN_CUDA_TARGET(targetId) ? targetId : DNN_TARGET_CPU;
         if (preferableTarget != resolved)
diff --git a/modules/dnn/src/onnx/onnx_importer2.cpp b/modules/dnn/src/onnx/onnx_importer2.cpp
index 54a8604de6..acbd1d4c85 100644
--- a/modules/dnn/src/onnx/onnx_importer2.cpp
+++ b/modules/dnn/src/onnx/onnx_importer2.cpp
@@ -2847,6 +2847,7 @@ Net readNetFromONNX2_ORT(const String& onnxFile)
     auto impl = net.getImpl();
     impl->modelFileName = onnxFile;
     impl->modelFormat = DNN_MODEL_ONNX;
+    impl->useOrtEngine = true;
     impl->ortNeedsReinit = true;
 
     // Create an empty main graph placeholder so that callers can detect