diff --git a/handler.go b/handler.go
index a5b5c4808..eb2621557 100644
--- a/handler.go
+++ b/handler.go
@@ -1590,10 +1590,15 @@ func (h *Handler) handleGetHosts(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 // handleGetVersion handles /version requests.
 func (h *Handler) handleGetVersion(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	version := Version
+	if strings.HasPrefix(version, "v") {
+		// make the version string semver-compatible
+		version = version[1:]
+	}
 	if err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(struct {
 		Version string `json:"version"`
 	}{
-		Version: Version,
+		Version: version,
 	}); err != nil {
 		h.logger().Printf("write version response error: %s", err)
 	}
diff --git a/handler_test.go b/handler_test.go
index 796782402..f865d1510 100644
--- a/handler_test.go
+++ b/handler_test.go
@@ -1161,9 +1161,13 @@ func TestHandler_Version(t *testing.T) {
 	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
 	r := test.MustNewHTTPRequest("GET", "/version", nil)
 	h.ServeHTTP(w, r)
+	version := pilosa.Version
+	if strings.HasPrefix(version, "v") {
+		version = version[1:]
+	}
 	if w.Code != http.StatusOK {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected status code: %d", w.Code)
-	} else if w.Body.String() != `{"version":"`+pilosa.Version+`"}`+"\n" {
+	} else if w.Body.String() != `{"version":"`+version+`"}`+"\n" {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected body: %q", w.Body.String())
 	}
 }