diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1553d669..083eae20 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ set(Omega_h_USE_pybind11_DEFAULT OFF)
 bob_public_dep(pybind11)
 
 if(Omega_h_USE_Kokkos)
+  bob_option(Omega_h_FORCE_KOKKOS_SORT "Force omega_h sort to use kokkos sortbykey." ON)
   if ("CUDA" IN_LIST Kokkos_DEVICES)
       bob_option(Omega_h_USE_CUDA "Whether to use CUDA" "ON")
   endif()
@@ -151,6 +152,7 @@ set(Omega_h_KEY_BOOLS
     Omega_h_ENABLE_DEMANGLED_STACKTRACE
     Omega_h_DBG
     Omega_h_USE_Kokkos
+    Omega_h_FORCE_KOKKOS_SORT
     Omega_h_USE_OpenMP
     Omega_h_USE_CUDA
     Omega_h_USE_SYCL
diff --git a/meshes/sorting/ab2b.dat b/meshes/sorting/ab2b.dat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c1f5acba
Binary files /dev/null and b/meshes/sorting/ab2b.dat differ
diff --git a/meshes/sorting/goldSorted.dat b/meshes/sorting/goldSorted.dat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d65bbba
Binary files /dev/null and b/meshes/sorting/goldSorted.dat differ
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 56563590..2746b62e 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
   else()
     test_func(describe_serial 1 ./describe ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/meshes/box_3d.osh)
   endif()
-
+  test_func(sort_test 1 ./sort_test ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/meshes/sorting/ab2b.dat ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/meshes/sorting/goldSorted.dat)
   if (Omega_h_USE_ADIOS2)
     osh_add_util(bp2osh)
     osh_add_util(osh2bp)
diff --git a/src/Omega_h_sort.cpp b/src/Omega_h_sort.cpp
index 3af90adc..6f9c90b4 100644
--- a/src/Omega_h_sort.cpp
+++ b/src/Omega_h_sort.cpp
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 #include <oneapi/dpl/algorithm>
 #include <oneapi/dpl/execution>
 #endif
-
+#if defined(OMEGA_H_FORCE_KOKKOS_SORT)
+#include <Kokkos_Sort.hpp>
+#endif
 #include <Omega_h_int_iterator.hpp>
 #include <Omega_h_scan.hpp>
 #include <Omega_h_sort.hpp>
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ struct CompareKeySets {
       T y = keys_[b * N + i];
       if (x != y) return x < y;
     }
-    return false;
+    return a < b;
   }
 };
 
@@ -87,8 +89,15 @@ static LOs sort_by_keys_tmpl(Read<T> keys) {
   LO* begin = perm.data();
   LO* end = perm.data() + n;
   T const* keyptr = keys.data();
+#if defined(OMEGA_H_FORCE_KOKKOS_SORT)
+  using ExecSpace = Kokkos::DefaultExecutionSpace;
+  ExecSpace space{}; 
+  Write<LO> base(n, 0, 1);
+  Kokkos::Experimental::sort_by_key(space, base.view(), perm.view(), CompareKeySets<T, N>(keyptr));
+#else
   parallel_sort<LO, CompareKeySets<T, N>>(
       begin, end, CompareKeySets<T, N>(keyptr));
+#endif
   end_code();
   return perm;
 }
diff --git a/src/sort_test.cpp b/src/sort_test.cpp
index c0b11bd4..eaa3c03e 100644
--- a/src/sort_test.cpp
+++ b/src/sort_test.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "Omega_h_library.hpp"
+#include "Omega_h_cmdline.hpp"
 #include "Omega_h_array_ops.hpp"
 #include "Omega_h_sort.hpp"
 #include "Omega_h_file.hpp"
@@ -10,6 +11,10 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
   using namespace Omega_h;
   auto lib = Library(&argc, &argv);
   auto world = lib.world();
+  Omega_h::CmdLine cmdline;
+  cmdline.add_arg<std::string>("array-in");
+  cmdline.add_arg<std::string>("gold-array-in");
+  if (!cmdline.parse_final(world, &argc, argv)) return -1;
   {
     LOs a({0, 2, 0, 1});
     LOs perm = sort_by_keys(a,1);
@@ -37,13 +42,13 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     OMEGA_H_CHECK(perm == LOs({1, 0, 2}));
   }
   {
-    for(int i=0; i<3; i++) {
-      fprintf(stderr, "large test %d\n", i);
       Read<LO> keys, gold;
-      std::ifstream in("ab2b"+std::to_string(i)+".dat", std::ios::in);
+			auto array_in = cmdline.get<std::string>("array-in");
+      std::ifstream in(array_in, std::ios::in);
       assert(in.is_open());
       binary::read_array(in, keys, false, false);
-      std::ifstream inGold("ba2ab"+std::to_string(i)+".dat", std::ios::in);
+			auto gold_array_in = cmdline.get<std::string>("gold-array-in");
+      std::ifstream inGold(gold_array_in, std::ios::in);
       assert(in.is_open());
       binary::read_array(inGold, gold, false, false);
       in.close();
@@ -72,7 +77,6 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
       auto permMatch = (perm == gold);
       fprintf(stderr, "perm matches (==) %s\n", (permMatch) ? "yes" : "no");
       OMEGA_H_CHECK(permMatch);
-    }
   }
   return 0;
 }