diff --git a/api/src/kv_store_tests.rs b/api/src/kv_store_tests.rs
index 0a829f0..6a77f1a 100644
--- a/api/src/kv_store_tests.rs
+++ b/api/src/kv_store_tests.rs
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ macro_rules! define_kv_store_tests {
 		create_test!(get_should_return_correct_value_when_key_exists);
 		create_test!(list_should_return_paginated_response);
 		create_test!(list_should_honour_page_size_and_key_prefix_if_provided);
+		create_test!(list_should_treat_key_prefix_as_a_literal_string);
 		create_test!(list_should_return_zero_global_version_when_global_versioning_not_enabled);
 		create_test!(list_should_limit_max_page_size);
 		create_test!(list_should_return_results_ordered_by_creation_time);
@@ -467,6 +468,41 @@ pub trait KvStoreTestSuite {
 		Ok(())
 	}
 
+	async fn list_should_treat_key_prefix_as_a_literal_string() -> Result<(), VssError> {
+		let kv_store = Self::create_store().await;
+		let ctx = TestContext::new(&kv_store);
+
+		let stored_keys = [
+			"percent%older",
+			"percent-false-match",
+			"percent%newer",
+			"underscore_older",
+			"underscoreXfalse-match",
+			"underscore_newer",
+			"backslash\\older",
+			"backslash%",
+			"backslash\\newer",
+		];
+		ctx.put_objects(Some(0), stored_keys.into_iter().map(|key| kv(key, "v1", 0)).collect())
+			.await?;
+
+		async fn assert_list_eq(ctx: &TestContext<'_>, prefix: &str, expected: &[&str]) {
+			let resp = ctx.list(None, Some(100), Some(prefix.to_owned())).await.unwrap();
+			let actual = resp
+				.key_versions
+				.iter()
+				.map(|key_version| key_version.key.as_str())
+				.collect::<Vec<_>>();
+			assert_eq!(&actual, expected, "prefix='{prefix}'");
+		}
+
+		assert_list_eq(&ctx, "percent%", &["percent%newer", "percent%older"]).await;
+		assert_list_eq(&ctx, "underscore_", &["underscore_newer", "underscore_older"]).await;
+		assert_list_eq(&ctx, "backslash\\", &["backslash\\newer", "backslash\\older"]).await;
+
+		Ok(())
+	}
+
 	async fn list_should_return_zero_global_version_when_global_versioning_not_enabled(
 	) -> Result<(), VssError> {
 		let kv_store = Self::create_store().await;
diff --git a/impls/src/postgres_store.rs b/impls/src/postgres_store.rs
index 765099e..8c10be0 100644
--- a/impls/src/postgres_store.rs
+++ b/impls/src/postgres_store.rs
@@ -657,7 +657,7 @@ where
 		&self, user_token: String, request: ListKeyVersionsRequest,
 	) -> Result<ListKeyVersionsResponse, VssError> {
 		let store_id = &request.store_id;
-		let key_prefix = &request.key_prefix;
+		let key_prefix = request.key_prefix.as_deref().unwrap_or_default();
 		let page_token = &request.page_token;
 		let page_size = request.page_size.unwrap_or(i32::MAX);
 
@@ -691,16 +691,14 @@ where
 
 		let conn = self.pool.get().await?;
 
-		let key_like = format!("{}%", key_prefix.as_deref().unwrap_or_default());
-
 		let rows = if let Some(ref token) = page_token {
 			let page_sort_order = decode_page_token(token)?;
-			let stmt = "SELECT key, version, sort_order FROM vss_db WHERE user_token = $1 AND store_id = $2 AND sort_order < $3 AND key LIKE $4 AND key != $5 ORDER BY sort_order DESC LIMIT $6";
+			let stmt = "SELECT key, version, sort_order FROM vss_db WHERE user_token = $1 AND store_id = $2 AND sort_order < $3 AND starts_with(key, $4) AND key != $5 ORDER BY sort_order DESC LIMIT $6";
 			let params: Vec<&(dyn tokio_postgres::types::ToSql + Sync)> = vec![
 				&user_token,
 				&store_id,
 				&page_sort_order,
-				&key_like,
+				&key_prefix,
 				&GLOBAL_VERSION_KEY,
 				&fetch_limit,
 			];
@@ -708,9 +706,9 @@ where
 				.await
 				.map_err(|e| Error::new(ErrorKind::Other, format!("Query error: {}", e)))?
 		} else {
-			let stmt = "SELECT key, version, sort_order FROM vss_db WHERE user_token = $1 AND store_id = $2 AND key LIKE $3 AND key != $4 ORDER BY sort_order DESC LIMIT $5";
+			let stmt = "SELECT key, version, sort_order FROM vss_db WHERE user_token = $1 AND store_id = $2 AND starts_with(key, $3) AND key != $4 ORDER BY sort_order DESC LIMIT $5";
 			let params: Vec<&(dyn tokio_postgres::types::ToSql + Sync)> =
-				vec![&user_token, &store_id, &key_like, &GLOBAL_VERSION_KEY, &fetch_limit];
+				vec![&user_token, &store_id, &key_prefix, &GLOBAL_VERSION_KEY, &fetch_limit];
 			conn.query(stmt, &params)
 				.await
 				.map_err(|e| Error::new(ErrorKind::Other, format!("Query error: {}", e)))?