diff --git a/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral_plot_sensitivity b/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral_plot_sensitivity
index 28fa7bfc5b74b3a2824aee1e80b20b496af67aed..6bcf8394693a3190b9b4d07b9e82fa5e7b14bf18 100755
--- a/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral_plot_sensitivity
+++ b/gstlal-inspiral/bin/gstlal_inspiral_plot_sensitivity
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class upper_limit(object):
             if self.searched_instruments is None:
                 self.searched_instruments = inst[0].replace(",","")
             else:
-                if self.searched_instruments != inst:
+                if self.searched_instruments != inst[0].replace(",",""):
                     raise ValueError("Detected different searched instruments between databases")