diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/axes_grid.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/axes_grid.py
index 2fcad75cefaa..5da0d12071a5 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/axes_grid.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/axes_grid.py
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ def __init__(self, fig,
         if ngrids is None:
             ngrids = self._nrows * self._ncols
         else:
-            if not 0 <= ngrids < self._nrows * self._ncols:
+            if not 0 < ngrids <= self._nrows * self._ncols:
                 raise Exception
 
         self.ngrids = ngrids
diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
index fef2ebc210b1..95b1ae5a3d78 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/tests/test_axes_grid1.py
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ def test_axesgrid_colorbar_log_smoketest():
     fig = plt.figure()
     grid = AxesGrid(fig, 111,  # modified to be only subplot
                     nrows_ncols=(1, 1),
+                    ngrids=1,
                     label_mode="L",
                     cbar_location="top",
                     cbar_mode="single",