diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/group_by.py b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/group_by.py
index d65ec24dd0f..35c39d226ba 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/group_by.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/action_plugins/group_by.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import ansible
 from ansible.callbacks import vv
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError as ae
 from ansible.runner.return_data import ReturnData
-from ansible.utils import parse_kv, template
+from ansible.utils import parse_kv, template, check_conditional
 
 class ActionModule(object):
     ''' Create inventory groups based on variables '''
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ class ActionModule(object):
         groups = {}
         for host in self.runner.host_set:
             data = inject['hostvars'][host]
+            if not check_conditional(template(self.runner.basedir, self.runner.conditional, data)):
+                continue
             group_name = template(self.runner.basedir, args['key'], data)
             group_name = group_name.replace(' ','-')
             if group_name not in groups: