diff --git a/packages/plugin-sdk/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/plugin-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
index fe9090843..39e7550e0 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/plugin-sdk/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 - `termix-plugin migrations` loads the table definitions from a path with a `#` or other URL characters in it
 - Text, json and encrypted columns are `longtext` on MySQL in new migrations, so they are no longer capped at 64KB. Existing migrations keep `text`
 - `i18next`, `react-dom`, `react-i18next` and `sonner` are optional peer dependencies, so npm stops installing them into backend-only plugins
+- `termix-plugin validate` accepts a beta version like `1.1.0-beta.1` when the changelog's newest release is `1.1.0` or older, so beta releases pass
 
 ## 1.0.4
 
diff --git a/packages/plugin-sdk/src/changelog.ts b/packages/plugin-sdk/src/changelog.ts
index 446baed42..c59f62c34 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-sdk/src/changelog.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-sdk/src/changelog.ts
@@ -194,7 +194,9 @@ export function parseChangelog(markdown: string): {
 
 /**
  * Checks a CHANGELOG.md. With a manifest version, the newest release has to
- * be that version, so a release never ships without its notes.
+ * be that version, so a release never ships without its notes. A beta like
+ * 1.1.0-beta.2 gets its notes from git, so it only needs the newest release
+ * to be 1.1.0 or older.
  */
 export function validateChangelog(
   markdown: string,
@@ -206,7 +208,16 @@ export function validateChangelog(
     return problems;
   }
   const newest = changelog.releases[0].version;
-  if (manifestVersion && newest !== manifestVersion) {
+  const base = manifestVersion
+    ? semver.valid(semver.coerce(manifestVersion))
+    : null;
+  const betaOk =
+    !!manifestVersion &&
+    !!semver.prerelease(manifestVersion) &&
+    !!base &&
+    !!semver.valid(newest) &&
+    semver.lte(newest, base);
+  if (manifestVersion && newest !== manifestVersion && !betaOk) {
     problems.push(
       `the newest release is ${newest}, but the manifest version is ${manifestVersion}`,
     );
diff --git a/scripts/plugin-changelog.test.ts b/scripts/plugin-changelog.test.ts
index 34518c43c..6516b0e14 100644
--- a/scripts/plugin-changelog.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/plugin-changelog.test.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,17 @@ describe("validateChangelog", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("lets a beta through when its notes are not written yet", () => {
+    expect(validateChangelog(FILE, "1.1.0-beta.1")).toEqual([]);
+    expect(validateChangelog(FILE, "1.2.0-beta.3")).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("flags a beta older than the newest release", () => {
+    expect(validateChangelog(FILE, "1.0.1-beta.1")).toContain(
+      "the newest release is 1.1.0, but the manifest version is 1.0.1-beta.1",
+    );
+  });
+
   it("flags a file with no releases", () => {
     expect(validateChangelog("# Changelog\n", "1.0.0")).toEqual([
       'no releases found, add a "## 1.0.0" heading',