diff --git a/.github/workflows/_ci-go.yml b/.github/workflows/_ci-go.yml
index 89c9b0727fb..a775e52ee6b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_ci-go.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_ci-go.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ on:
         required: false
         type: string
         default: ""
+      coverage:
+        description: "Collect coverage and print per-module percentages (the data is not uploaded anywhere; see #5795). Instrumentation slows interpreter-heavy tests measurably."
+        required: false
+        type: boolean
+        default: true
 
 permissions: {}
 
@@ -85,14 +90,25 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: ${{ inputs.modulepath }}
         env:
           SEQ_TS: ${{ inputs.tests-ts-seq }}
-          TXTARCOVERDIR: /tmp/txtarcoverdir
-          GOCOVERDIR: /tmp/gocoverdir
-          COVERDIR: /tmp/coverdir
+          # The coverage dir env vars also steer testscript-based suites
+          # (cmd/gno, gno.land integration): leave them unset without
+          # coverage so those suites skip coverage collection too.
+          TXTARCOVERDIR: ${{ inputs.coverage && '/tmp/txtarcoverdir' || '' }}
+          GOCOVERDIR: ${{ inputs.coverage && '/tmp/gocoverdir' || '' }}
+          COVERDIR: ${{ inputs.coverage && '/tmp/coverdir' || '' }}
           INPUTS_MODULEPATH: ${{ inputs.modulepath }}
           INPUTS_TESTS_EXTRA_ARGS: ${{ inputs.tests-extra-args }}
+          INPUTS_COVERAGE: ${{ inputs.coverage }}
         run: |
           set -x
 
+          if [ "$INPUTS_COVERAGE" != "true" ]; then
+            # INPUTS_TESTS_EXTRA_ARGS must word-split into flags
+            # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+            go test -timeout 30m ${INPUTS_TESTS_EXTRA_ARGS} ./...
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
           mkdir -p "$GOCOVERDIR" "$TXTARCOVERDIR" "$COVERDIR"
 
           export filter="-pkg=github.com/gnolang/gno/${INPUTS_MODULEPATH}/..."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-dir-gnovm.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-dir-gnovm.yml
index 4557414c43e..299dd26008a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-dir-gnovm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-dir-gnovm.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_ci-go.yml
     with:
       modulepath: "gnovm"
-      tests-extra-args: "-coverpkg=github.com/gnolang/gno/gnovm/..."
+      # Coverage instrumentation costs ~1.24x on the interpreter-heavy
+      # tests, and since #5795 the percentages are only printed to the
+      # job log; skip it on gnovm's critical path.
+      coverage: false
   stdlibs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_ci-gno.yml
     with: