diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/app.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/app.ts
index 67cc4d54c6..86b3e10b3c 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/app.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/app.ts
@@ -44,19 +44,23 @@ export async function generateApp (nuxt: Nuxt, app: NuxtApp, options: { filter?:
     .map(async (template) => {
       const fullPath = template.dst || resolve(nuxt.options.buildDir, template.filename!)
       const mark = performance.mark(fullPath)
+      const oldContents = nuxt.vfs[fullPath]
       const contents = await compileTemplate(template, templateContext).catch((e) => {
         logger.error(`Could not compile template \`${template.filename}\`.`)
         throw e
       })
 
-      nuxt.vfs[fullPath] = contents
+      template.modified = oldContents !== contents
+      if (template.modified) {
+        nuxt.vfs[fullPath] = contents
 
-      const aliasPath = '#build/' + template.filename!.replace(/\.\w+$/, '')
-      nuxt.vfs[aliasPath] = contents
+        const aliasPath = '#build/' + template.filename!.replace(/\.\w+$/, '')
+        nuxt.vfs[aliasPath] = contents
 
-      // In case a non-normalized absolute path is called for on Windows
-      if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-        nuxt.vfs[fullPath.replace(/\//g, '\\')] = contents
+        // In case a non-normalized absolute path is called for on Windows
+        if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+          nuxt.vfs[fullPath.replace(/\//g, '\\')] = contents
+        }
       }
 
       const perf = performance.measure(fullPath, mark?.name) // TODO: remove when Node 14 reaches EOL
@@ -66,7 +70,7 @@ export async function generateApp (nuxt: Nuxt, app: NuxtApp, options: { filter?:
         logger.info(`Compiled \`${template.filename}\` in ${setupTime}ms`)
       }
 
-      if (template.write) {
+      if (template.modified && template.write) {
         writes.push(() => {
           mkdirSync(dirname(fullPath), { recursive: true })
           writeFileSync(fullPath, contents, 'utf8')
@@ -78,7 +82,11 @@ export async function generateApp (nuxt: Nuxt, app: NuxtApp, options: { filter?:
   // runtime overhead of cascading HMRs from vite/webpack
   for (const write of writes) { write() }
 
-  await nuxt.callHook('app:templatesGenerated', app, filteredTemplates, options)
+  const changedTemplates = filteredTemplates.filter(t => t.modified)
+
+  if (changedTemplates.length) {
+    await nuxt.callHook('app:templatesGenerated', app, changedTemplates, options)
+  }
 }
 
 /** @internal */
diff --git a/packages/schema/src/types/nuxt.ts b/packages/schema/src/types/nuxt.ts
index 144be97179..b37c37d900 100644
--- a/packages/schema/src/types/nuxt.ts
+++ b/packages/schema/src/types/nuxt.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ export interface NuxtTemplate<Options = TemplateDefaultOptions> {
 export interface ResolvedNuxtTemplate<Options = TemplateDefaultOptions> extends NuxtTemplate<Options> {
   filename: string
   dst: string
+  modified?: boolean
 }
 
 export interface NuxtTypeTemplate<Options = TemplateDefaultOptions> extends Omit<NuxtTemplate<Options>, 'write' | 'filename'> {