diff --git a/src/UserConfig.js b/src/UserConfig.js
index e088151cc..56535ec8e 100644
--- a/src/UserConfig.js
+++ b/src/UserConfig.js
@@ -80,7 +80,11 @@ class UserConfig {
   }
 
   versionCheck(expected) {
-    if (!semver.satisfies(pkg.version, expected)) {
+    if (
+      !semver.satisfies(pkg.version, expected, {
+        includePrerelease: true,
+      })
+    ) {
       throw new UserConfigError(
         `This project requires the Eleventy version to match '${expected}' but found ${pkg.version}. Use \`npm update @11ty/eleventy -g\` to upgrade the eleventy global or \`npm update @11ty/eleventy --save\` to upgrade your local project version.`
       );
diff --git a/test/SemverCheckTest.js b/test/SemverCheckTest.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ed16cb3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/SemverCheckTest.js
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+const test = require("ava");
+const semver = require("semver");
+
+test("Satisfies sanity checks with beta/canary", (t) => {
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0-beta.1", ">= 0.7.0", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    }),
+    "1.0 Beta is valid for 0.x"
+  );
+
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0-canary.1", ">= 0.7.0", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    }),
+    "1.0 Canary is valid for 0.x"
+  );
+
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0-beta.1", ">= 0.7.0", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    }),
+    "1.0 Beta is valid for 0.x"
+  );
+
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0", ">= 0.7.0", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    }),
+    "1.0 is valid for 0.x"
+  );
+
+  // keep canary around, it won’t have the `includePrerelease` option in `UserConfig->versionCheck`
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0", ">=0.7 || >=1.0.0-canary", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    })
+  );
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0-beta.1", ">=0.7 || >=1.0.0-canary", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    })
+  );
+  t.true(
+    semver.satisfies("1.0.0-canary.1", ">=0.7 || >=1.0.0-canary", {
+      includePrerelease: true,
+    })
+  );
+});