diff --git a/services/github/github-release.service.js b/services/github/github-release.service.js
index b376e91e9194f..2cf66a074f2a3 100644
--- a/services/github/github-release.service.js
+++ b/services/github/github-release.service.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import Joi from 'joi'
-import { addv } from '../text-formatters.js'
-import { version as versionColor } from '../color-formatters.js'
 import { redirector, pathParam, queryParam } from '../index.js'
+import { renderVersionBadge } from '../version.js'
 import { GithubAuthV3Service } from './github-auth-service.js'
 import {
   fetchLatestRelease,
@@ -46,13 +45,6 @@ class GithubRelease extends GithubAuthV3Service {
 
   static defaultBadgeData = { label: 'release' }
 
-  static render({ version, sort, isPrerelease }) {
-    let color = 'blue'
-    color = sort === 'semver' ? versionColor(version) : color
-    color = isPrerelease ? 'orange' : color
-    return { message: addv(version), color }
-  }
-
   static transform(latestRelease, display) {
     const { name, tag_name: tagName, prerelease: isPrerelease } = latestRelease
     if (display === 'tag') {
@@ -72,10 +64,9 @@ class GithubRelease extends GithubAuthV3Service {
       latestRelease,
       queryParams.display_name,
     )
-    return this.constructor.render({
+    return renderVersionBadge({
       version,
-      sort: queryParams.sort,
-      isPrerelease,
+      forcePrerelease: isPrerelease,
     })
   }
 }
diff --git a/services/github/github-tag.service.js b/services/github/github-tag.service.js
index 2c6fa6224e99a..42a9ced1e7f66 100644
--- a/services/github/github-tag.service.js
+++ b/services/github/github-tag.service.js
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 import gql from 'graphql-tag'
 import Joi from 'joi'
 import { matcher } from 'matcher'
-import { addv } from '../text-formatters.js'
-import { version as versionColor } from '../color-formatters.js'
-import { latest } from '../version.js'
+import { latest, renderVersionBadge } from '../version.js'
 import { NotFound, redirector, pathParam } from '../index.js'
 import { GithubAuthV4Service } from './github-auth-service.js'
 import {
@@ -55,13 +53,6 @@ class GithubTag extends GithubAuthV4Service {
     label: 'tag',
   }
 
-  static render({ version, sort }) {
-    return {
-      message: addv(version),
-      color: sort === 'semver' ? versionColor(version) : 'blue',
-    }
-  }
-
   static getLimit({ sort, filter }) {
     if (!filter && sort === 'date') {
       return 1
@@ -123,13 +114,12 @@ class GithubTag extends GithubAuthV4Service {
       const prettyMessage = filter ? 'no matching tags found' : 'no tags found'
       throw new NotFound({ prettyMessage })
     }
-    return this.constructor.render({
+    return renderVersionBadge({
       version: this.constructor.getLatestTag({
         tags,
         sort,
         includePrereleases,
       }),
-      sort,
     })
   }
 }
diff --git a/services/github/github-tag.spec.js b/services/github/github-tag.spec.js
index 058180cd03067..9645a7f3930e9 100644
--- a/services/github/github-tag.spec.js
+++ b/services/github/github-tag.spec.js
@@ -43,17 +43,6 @@ describe('GithubTag', function () {
     }).expect('1.2.0-beta')
   })
 
-  test(GithubTag.render, () => {
-    given({ usingSemver: false, version: '1.2.3' }).expect({
-      message: 'v1.2.3',
-      color: 'blue',
-    })
-    given({ usingSemver: true, version: '2.0.0' }).expect({
-      message: 'v2.0.0',
-      color: 'blue',
-    })
-  })
-
   test(GithubTag.getLimit, () => {
     given({ sort: 'date', filter: undefined }).expect(1)
     given({ sort: 'date', filter: '' }).expect(1)
diff --git a/services/version.js b/services/version.js
index cdbb90aec3b30..a151af6324494 100644
--- a/services/version.js
+++ b/services/version.js
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ function rangeStart(v) {
  * @param {string} [options.prefix]  - The prefix to display on the message, such as ">=", "v", overrides the default behavior of using addv
  * @param {string} [options.postfix] - The postfix to display on the message, such as "tested"
  * @param {Function} [options.versionFormatter=versionColor] - The function to use to format the color of the badge based on the version number
+ * @param {boolean} [options.forcePrerelease] - Whether to force the badge to be considered a prerelease for cases where upstream API indicates a prerelease version but it is not semantically a prerelease
  * @returns {object} A badge object that has three properties: label, message, and color
  * @example
  * renderVersionBadge({version: '1.2.3', tag: 'alpha', defaultLabel: 'npm'}) // returns {label: 'npm@alpha', message: 'v1.2.3', color: 'orange'} because
@@ -250,13 +251,14 @@ function renderVersionBadge({
   prefix,
   postfix,
   versionFormatter = versionColor,
+  forcePrerelease,
 }) {
   return {
     label: tag ? `${defaultLabel}@${tag}` : defaultLabel,
     message:
       (prefix ? `${prefix}${version}` : addv(version)) +
       (postfix ? ` ${postfix}` : ''),
-    color: versionFormatter(version),
+    color: versionFormatter(forcePrerelease ? 'pre' : version),
   }
 }