diff --git a/util/version/version.go b/util/version/version.go
index f3ca66289a1d..a0d4773287ca 100644
--- a/util/version/version.go
+++ b/util/version/version.go
@@ -213,8 +213,10 @@ func WithoutPreReleases() CompareOption {
 // Example: using the WithBuildTags() option modifies the compare logic to also
 // consider build tags when comparing versions.
 func Compare(a, b semver.Version, options ...CompareOption) int {
-	a.Pre = nil
-	b.Pre = nil
+	if c. withoutPreReleases {
+		a.Pre = nil
+		b.Pre = nil
+	}
 
 	c := &comparer{}
 	for _, o := range options {