diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/munin.nix b/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/munin.nix
index 364f18e7543..b8c26a5c89b 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/munin.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/monitoring/munin.nix
@@ -193,14 +193,26 @@ in
 
   }) (mkIf cronCfg.enable {
 
-    services.cron.systemCronJobs = [
-      "*/5 * * * * munin ${pkgs.munin}/bin/munin-cron --config ${muninConf}"
-    ];
+    systemd.timers.munin-cron = {
+      description = "batch Munin master programs";
+      wantedBy = [ "timers.target" ];
+      timerConfig.OnCalendar = "*:0/5";
+    };
+
+    systemd.services.munin-cron = {
+      description = "batch Munin master programs";
+      unitConfig.Documentation = "man:munin-cron(8)";
+
+      serviceConfig = {
+        Type = "oneshot";
+        User = "munin";
+        ExecStart = "${pkgs.munin}/bin/munin-cron --config ${muninConf}";
+      };
+    };
 
     system.activationScripts.munin-cron = stringAfter [ "users" "groups" ] ''
       mkdir -p /var/{run,log,www,lib}/munin
       chown -R munin:munin /var/{run,log,www,lib}/munin
     '';
-
   })];
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/munin.nix b/nixos/tests/munin.nix
index 50746d17b45..40fafc62514 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/munin.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/munin.nix
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import ./make-test.nix ({ pkgs, ...} : {
     startAll;
 
     $one->waitForUnit("munin-node.service");
+    $one->succeed('systemctl start munin-cron');
     $one->waitForFile("/var/lib/munin/one/one-uptime-uptime-g.rrd");
     $one->waitForFile("/var/www/munin/one/index.html");
   '';