diff --git a/api/datastore/test_data/output_24_to_latest.json b/api/datastore/test_data/output_24_to_latest.json
index 0e4c7aa1c..e7d218e1d 100644
--- a/api/datastore/test_data/output_24_to_latest.json
+++ b/api/datastore/test_data/output_24_to_latest.json
@@ -941,6 +941,6 @@
     }
   ],
   "version": {
-    "VERSION": "{\"SchemaVersion\":\"2.21.0\",\"MigratorCount\":0,\"Edition\":1,\"InstanceID\":\"463d5c47-0ea5-4aca-85b1-405ceefee254\"}"
+    "VERSION": "{\"SchemaVersion\":\"2.21.0-rc1\",\"MigratorCount\":0,\"Edition\":1,\"InstanceID\":\"463d5c47-0ea5-4aca-85b1-405ceefee254\"}"
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/api/portainer.go b/api/portainer.go
index 373d1559d..1ac6f0d0f 100644
--- a/api/portainer.go
+++ b/api/portainer.go
@@ -1601,7 +1601,7 @@ type (
 
 const (
 	// APIVersion is the version number of the Portainer API
-	APIVersion = "2.21.0"
+	APIVersion = "2.21.0-rc1"
 	// Edition is what this edition of Portainer is called
 	Edition = PortainerCE
 	// ComposeSyntaxMaxVersion is a maximum supported version of the docker compose syntax