diff --git a/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseLoader.cs b/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseLoader.cs
index 8d07d0e9..f16ead4a 100644
--- a/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseLoader.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseLoader.cs
@@ -24,13 +24,16 @@ private async Task<bool> ValidateFileContents(string fileContents)
         using var document = JsonDocument.Parse(fileContents, ProxyUtils.JsonDocumentOptions);
         var root = document.RootElement;
 
-        if (!root.TryGetProperty("$schema", out var schemaUrl))
+        if (!root.TryGetProperty("$schema", out var schemaUrlElement))
         {
             _logger.LogDebug("Schema reference not found in file {File}. Skipping schema validation", FilePath);
             return true;
         }
 
-        var (IsValid, ValidationErrors) = await ProxyUtils.ValidateJson(fileContents, schemaUrl.GetString(), _logger);
+        var schemaUrl = schemaUrlElement.GetString() ?? "";
+        ProxyUtils.ValidateSchemaVersion(schemaUrl, _logger);
+        var (IsValid, ValidationErrors) = await ProxyUtils.ValidateJson(fileContents, schemaUrl, _logger);
+
         if (!IsValid)
         {
             _logger.LogError("Schema validation failed for {File} with the following errors: {Errors}", FilePath, string.Join(", ", ValidationErrors));
diff --git a/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseProxyPlugin.cs b/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseProxyPlugin.cs
index 6190ab4a..064254af 100644
--- a/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseProxyPlugin.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy-abstractions/BaseProxyPlugin.cs
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ public virtual async Task RegisterAsync()
                 return (false, [string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, "Configuration section {0} not found in configuration file", configSectionName)]);
             }
 
+            ProxyUtils.ValidateSchemaVersion(schemaUrl, Logger);
             return await ProxyUtils.ValidateJson(configSection.GetRawText(), schemaUrl, Logger);
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
diff --git a/dev-proxy-abstractions/ProxyUtils.cs b/dev-proxy-abstractions/ProxyUtils.cs
index 111ea129..177b78cb 100644
--- a/dev-proxy-abstractions/ProxyUtils.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy-abstractions/ProxyUtils.cs
@@ -320,7 +320,6 @@ public static string ProductVersion
                 }
             }
 
-
             return _productVersion;
         }
     }
@@ -355,7 +354,7 @@ public static void MergeHeaders(IList<MockResponseHeader> allHeaders, IList<Mock
     }
 
     public static JsonSerializerOptions JsonSerializerOptions => jsonSerializerOptions;
-    
+
     public static JsonDocumentOptions JsonDocumentOptions { get; } = new()
     {
         AllowTrailingCommas = true,
@@ -425,7 +424,8 @@ public static List<string> GetWildcardPatterns(List<string> urls)
                 }
 
                 // For multiple URLs, find the common prefix
-                var paths = group.Select(url => {
+                var paths = group.Select(url =>
+                {
                     if (url.Contains('*'))
                     {
                         return url;
@@ -518,10 +518,126 @@ public static string ReplaceVariables(string s, Dictionary<string, string> varia
         return s1;
     }
 
-    public static string GetVersionString(string productVersion)
+    public static void ValidateSchemaVersion(string schemaUrl, ILogger logger)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(schemaUrl))
+        {
+            logger.LogDebug("Schema is empty, skipping schema version validation.");
+            return;
+        }
+
+        try
+        {
+            var uri = new Uri(schemaUrl);
+            if (uri.Segments.Length > 2)
+            {
+                var schemaVersion = uri.Segments[^2]
+                    .TrimStart('v')
+                    .TrimEnd('/');
+                var currentVersion = NormalizeVersion(ProductVersion);
+                if (CompareSemVer(currentVersion, schemaVersion) != 0)
+                {
+                    var currentSchemaUrl = uri.ToString().Replace($"/v{schemaVersion}/", $"/v{currentVersion}/");
+                    logger.LogWarning("The version of schema does not match the installed Dev Proxy version, the expected schema is {schema}", currentSchemaUrl);
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                logger.LogDebug("Invalid schema {schemaUrl}, skipping schema version validation.", schemaUrl);
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Exception ex)
+        {
+            logger.LogWarning("Invalid schema {schemaUrl}, skipping schema version validation. Error: {error}", schemaUrl, ex.Message);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Compares two semantic versions strings.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="a">ver1</param>
+    /// <param name="b">ver2</param>
+    /// <returns>
+    /// Returns 0 if the versions are equal, -1 if a is less than b, and 1 if a is greater than b.
+    /// An invalid argument is "rounded" to a minimal version.
+    /// </returns>
+    public static int CompareSemVer(string? a, string? b)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(a) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(b))
+        {
+            return 0;
+        }
+        else if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(a))
+        {
+            return -1;
+        }
+        else if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(b))
+        {
+            return 1;
+        }
+
+        a = a.TrimStart('v');
+        b = b.TrimStart('v');
+
+        var aParts = a.Split('-');
+        var bParts = b.Split('-');
+
+        var aParsed = Version.TryParse(aParts[0], out var aVersion);
+        var bParsed = Version.TryParse(bParts[0], out var bVersion);
+        if (!aParsed && !bParsed)
+        {
+            return 0;
+        }
+        else if (!aParsed)
+        {
+            return -1;
+        }
+        else if (!bParsed)
+        {
+            return 1;
+        }
+
+        var compare = aVersion!.CompareTo(bVersion);
+        if (compare != 0)
+        {
+            // if the versions are different, return the comparison result
+            return compare;
+        }
+
+        // if the versions are the same, compare the prerelease tags
+        if (aParts.Length == 1 && bParts.Length == 1)
+        {
+            // if both versions are stable, they are equal
+            return 0;
+        }
+        else if (aParts.Length == 1)
+        {
+            // if a is stable and b is not, a is greater
+            return 1;
+        }
+        else if (bParts.Length == 1)
+        {
+            // if b is stable and a is not, b is greater
+            return -1;
+        }
+        else if (aParts[1] == bParts[1])
+        {
+            // if both versions are prerelease and the tags are the same, they are equal
+            return 0;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // if both versions are prerelease, b is greater
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Produces major.minor.patch version dropping a pre-release suffix.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="version">A version looks like "0.28.1", "0.28.1-alpha", "0.28.10-beta.1", "0.28.10-rc.1", or "0.28.0-preview-1", etc.</param>
+    public static string NormalizeVersion(string version)
     {
-        return productVersion.Contains("-beta")
-            ? productVersion.Split("-")[0]
-            : productVersion;
+        return version.Split('-', StringSplitOptions.None)[0];
     }
 }
diff --git a/dev-proxy/CommandHandlers/ConfigNewCommandHandler.cs b/dev-proxy/CommandHandlers/ConfigNewCommandHandler.cs
index fe24cf14..1b633a9b 100644
--- a/dev-proxy/CommandHandlers/ConfigNewCommandHandler.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy/CommandHandlers/ConfigNewCommandHandler.cs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public class VisualStudioCodeSnippet
 
 public static class ConfigNewCommandHandler
 {
-    private static readonly string snippetsFileUrl = $"https://aka.ms/devproxy/snippets/v{ProxyUtils.GetVersionString(ProxyUtils.ProductVersion)}";
+    private static readonly string snippetsFileUrl = $"https://aka.ms/devproxy/snippets/v{ProxyUtils.NormalizeVersion(ProxyUtils.ProductVersion)}";
     private static readonly string configFileSnippetName = "ConfigFile";
 
     public static async Task CreateConfigFileAsync(string name, ILogger logger)
diff --git a/dev-proxy/PluginLoader.cs b/dev-proxy/PluginLoader.cs
index 75c545e9..6f608192 100644
--- a/dev-proxy/PluginLoader.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy/PluginLoader.cs
@@ -134,6 +134,16 @@ private PluginConfig PluginConfig
         {
             if (_pluginConfig == null)
             {
+                var schemaUrl = Configuration.GetValue<string>("$schema");
+                if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(schemaUrl))
+                {
+                    _logger.LogDebug("No schema URL found in configuration file, skipping schema version validation");
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    ProxyUtils.ValidateSchemaVersion(schemaUrl, _logger);
+                }
+
                 _pluginConfig = new PluginConfig();
 
                 if (isDiscover)
diff --git a/dev-proxy/UpdateNotification.cs b/dev-proxy/UpdateNotification.cs
index 71dcd074..b647bc78 100644
--- a/dev-proxy/UpdateNotification.cs
+++ b/dev-proxy/UpdateNotification.cs
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ internal static class UpdateNotification
             // -1 = latest release is greater
             // 0 = versions are equal
             // 1 = current version is greater
-            if (CompareSemVer(currentVersion, latestReleaseVersion) < 0)
+            if (ProxyUtils.CompareSemVer(currentVersion, latestReleaseVersion) < 0)
             {
                 return latestRelease;
             }
@@ -60,76 +60,6 @@ internal static class UpdateNotification
         }
     }
 
-    /// <summary>
-    /// Compares two semantic versions strings.
-    /// </summary>
-    /// <param name="a">ver1</param>
-    /// <param name="b">ver2</param>
-    /// <returns>Returns 0 if the versions are equal, -1 if a is less than b, and 1 if a is greater than b.</returns>
-    private static int CompareSemVer(string? a, string? b)
-    {
-        if (a == null && b == null)
-        {
-            return 0;
-        }
-        else if (a == null)
-        {
-            return -1;
-        }
-        else if (b == null)
-        {
-            return 1;
-        }
-
-        if (a.StartsWith('v'))
-        {
-            a = a[1..];
-        }
-        if (b.StartsWith('v'))
-        {
-            b = b[1..];
-        }
-
-        var aParts = a.Split('-');
-        var bParts = b.Split('-');
-
-        var aVersion = new Version(aParts[0]);
-        var bVersion = new Version(bParts[0]);
-
-        var compare = aVersion.CompareTo(bVersion);
-        if (compare != 0)
-        {
-            // if the versions are different, return the comparison result
-            return compare;
-        }
-
-        // if the versions are the same, compare the prerelease tags
-        if (aParts.Length == 1 && bParts.Length == 1)
-        {
-            // if both versions are stable, they are equal
-            return 0;
-        }
-        else if (aParts.Length == 1)
-        {
-            // if a is stable and b is not, a is greater
-            return 1;
-        }
-        else if (bParts.Length == 1)
-        {
-            // if b is stable and a is not, b is greater
-            return -1;
-        }
-        else if (aParts[1] == bParts[1])
-        {
-            // if both versions are prerelease and the tags are the same, they are equal
-            return 0;
-        }
-        else {
-            // if both versions are prerelease, b is greater
-            return -1;
-        }
-    }
-
     private static async Task<ReleaseInfo?> GetLatestReleaseAsync(ReleaseType releaseType)
     {
         var http = new HttpClient();