diff --git a/.changeset/selfish-bulldogs-jog.md b/.changeset/selfish-bulldogs-jog.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..474cc7993d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/selfish-bulldogs-jog.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'create-astro': patch
+---
+
+Fixes an issue where the `getVersion` function was incorrectly using the `latest` tag instead of the user-specified `ref` to determine the Astro version.
diff --git a/packages/create-astro/src/actions/context.ts b/packages/create-astro/src/actions/context.ts
index 59f85f88a1..33d80898fc 100644
--- a/packages/create-astro/src/actions/context.ts
+++ b/packages/create-astro/src/actions/context.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ export async function getContext(argv: string[]): Promise<Context> {
 		prompt,
 		packageManager,
 		username: getName(),
-		version: getVersion(packageManager, 'astro', process.env.ASTRO_VERSION),
+		version: getVersion(packageManager, 'astro', process.env.ASTRO_VERSION, ref),
 		skipHouston,
 		fancy,
 		add,
diff --git a/packages/create-astro/src/messages.ts b/packages/create-astro/src/messages.ts
index 898c9c728e..30bd4f231d 100644
--- a/packages/create-astro/src/messages.ts
+++ b/packages/create-astro/src/messages.ts
@@ -60,10 +60,10 @@ export const getName = () =>
 		});
 	});
 
-export const getVersion = (packageManager: string, packageName: string, fallback = '') =>
+export const getVersion = (packageManager: string, packageName: string, fallback = '', ref = 'latest') =>
 	new Promise<string>(async (resolve) => {
 		let registry = await getRegistry(packageManager);
-		const { version } = await fetch(`${registry}/${packageName}/latest`, {
+		const { version } = await fetch(`${registry}/${packageName}/${ref}`, {
 			redirect: 'follow',
 		})
 			.then((res) => res.json())