diff --git a/apps/api/src/lib/semver.ts b/apps/api/src/lib/semver.ts
index c9fcb69..bb7b777 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/lib/semver.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/lib/semver.ts
@@ -8,9 +8,12 @@ const STRICT_SEMVER_RE = new RegExp(SEMVER_VERSION_PATTERN)
 
 // Returns negative if a < b, positive if a > b, 0 if equal or unparseable.
 // Coerces lax tag formats ("v1.2", "1.2") so legacy release tags still order.
+// `includePrerelease` is load-bearing: a plain coerce() drops the prerelease,
+// so every 1.0.0-beta.N would compare equal and a plugin's latestVersion would
+// stick at whichever prerelease of a series landed first.
 export function compareSemver(a: string, b: string): number {
-  const sa = semver.coerce(a)
-  const sb = semver.coerce(b)
+  const sa = semver.coerce(a, { includePrerelease: true })
+  const sb = semver.coerce(b, { includePrerelease: true })
   if (!sa || !sb) return 0
   return semver.compare(sa, sb)
 }
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/lib/semver.test.ts b/apps/api/tests/lib/semver.test.ts
index 1e7a3b6..05d14a0 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/lib/semver.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/lib/semver.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'bun:test'
-import { isStrictSemver, assertStrictSemver, tagToVersion, InvalidVersionError } from '../../src/lib/semver'
+import {
+  compareSemver,
+  isStrictSemver,
+  assertStrictSemver,
+  tagToVersion,
+  InvalidVersionError,
+} from '../../src/lib/semver'
 
 describe('isStrictSemver', () => {
   it('accepts X.Y.Z', () => {
@@ -42,6 +48,38 @@ describe('assertStrictSemver', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('compareSemver', () => {
+  it('orders plain releases', () => {
+    expect(compareSemver('1.2.4', '1.2.3')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('1.2.3', '1.2.4')).toBeLessThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('1.2.3', '1.2.3')).toBe(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('0.10.0', '0.2.0')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+
+  // Regression: coerce() without includePrerelease collapses every
+  // 1.0.0-beta.N to 1.0.0, so latestVersion froze at the first beta of a
+  // series while later betas kept ingesting as ordinary releases.
+  it('orders prereleases of the same version', () => {
+    expect(compareSemver('1.0.0-beta.7', '1.0.0-beta.5')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('1.0.0-beta.5', '1.0.0-beta.7')).toBeLessThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('1.0.0-beta.10', '1.0.0-beta.9')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+
+  it('ranks a stable release above its own prerelease', () => {
+    expect(compareSemver('2.0.0', '2.0.0-rc.1')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('2.0.0-rc.1', '2.0.0')).toBeLessThan(0)
+  })
+
+  it('still coerces lax legacy tags', () => {
+    expect(compareSemver('v1.2', '1.1')).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(compareSemver('1.2', '1.2.0')).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 0 for unparseable input', () => {
+    expect(compareSemver('garbage', '1.0.0')).toBe(0)
+  })
+})
+
 describe('tagToVersion', () => {
   it('strips a single leading v', () => {
     expect(tagToVersion('v1.2.3')).toBe('1.2.3')