diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 1d1c3c2..894af4c 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-include README.md LICENSE AUTHORS test_httpbin.py
+include httpbin/VERSION README.md LICENSE AUTHORS test_httpbin.py
 recursive-include httpbin/templates *
 recursive-include httpbin/static *
diff --git a/httpbin/VERSION b/httpbin/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac39a10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/httpbin/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.9.0
diff --git a/httpbin/core.py b/httpbin/core.py
index ea870a5..fdee126 100644
--- a/httpbin/core.py
+++ b/httpbin/core.py
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ from .helpers import get_headers, status_code, get_dict, get_request_range, chec
 from .utils import weighted_choice
 from .structures import CaseInsensitiveDict
 
+with open(os.path.join(os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'VERSION')) as version_file:
+    version = version_file.read().strip()
+
 ENV_COOKIES = (
     '_gauges_unique',
     '_gauges_unique_year',
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ template = {
       "url": "https://kennethreitz.org",
     },
     # "termsOfService": "http://me.com/terms",
-    "version": "0.9.0"
+    "version": version
   },
   "host": "httpbin.org",  # overrides localhost:5000
   "basePath": "/",  # base bash for blueprint registration
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7e973ae..8f9ebc5 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,9 +5,12 @@ import io
 # long_description = io.open(
     # os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst'), encoding='utf-8').read()
 
+with open(os.path.join(os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'httpbin', 'VERSION')) as version_file:
+    version = version_file.read().strip()
+
 setup(
     name="httpbin",
-    version="0.9.0",
+    version=version,
     description="HTTP Request and Response Service",
     # long_description=long_description,