diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 72f32693e3b..51eb26656f6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 VENV?=.venv
 # Source virtualenv to execute command (darker, sphinx, twine, etc...)
 IN_VENV=if [ -f "$(VENV)/bin/activate" ]; then . "$(VENV)/bin/activate"; fi;
-RELEASE_CURR:=25.1
+RELEASE_CURR:=26.0
 RELEASE_UPSTREAM:=upstream
 CONFIG_MANAGE=$(IN_VENV) python lib/galaxy/config/config_manage.py
 PROJECT_URL?=https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/version.py b/lib/galaxy/version.py
index f26f6306727..760f6a0a3e3 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/version.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-VERSION_MAJOR = "25.1"
+VERSION_MAJOR = "26.0"
 VERSION_MINOR = "dev0"
 VERSION = VERSION_MAJOR + (f".{VERSION_MINOR}" if VERSION_MINOR else "")