diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 09f619adb..8725da767 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ dependencies = [
     "ruamel.yaml",
     "jinja2",
     "GitPython",
-    "pvi~=0.8",  # pvi currently tracks breaking changes with minor version
+    "semantic-version",
+    "pvi~=0.8",         # pvi currently tracks breaking changes with minor version
 ] # Add project dependencies here, e.g. ["click", "numpy"]
 dynamic = ["version"]
 license.file = "LICENSE"
diff --git a/src/ibek/__main__.py b/src/ibek/__main__.py
index b2645ee83..8da04c60d 100644
--- a/src/ibek/__main__.py
+++ b/src/ibek/__main__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 from ruamel.yaml import YAML
 
 from ibek._version import __version__
+from ibek.commands import semver_compare
 from ibek.dev_cmds.commands import dev_cli
 from ibek.globals import NaturalOrderGroup
 from ibek.ioc_cmds.commands import ioc_cli
@@ -59,6 +60,24 @@ def main(
     """
 
 
+@cli.command()
+def compare(
+    base: str = typer.Argument(
+        help='SemVer string e.g. "1.2.0"',
+    ),
+    target: str = typer.Argument(
+        help='An operator (<=,>=,==,<,>) followed by a SemVer string e.g.">=1.2.0"',
+    ),
+):
+    """
+    Compare two SemVer strings similarly to pip's requirements specifier syntax
+    """
+    if semver_compare(base, target):
+        raise typer.Exit(code=0)
+    else:
+        raise typer.Exit(code=1)
+
+
 # test with:
 #     pipenv run python -m ibek
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/src/ibek/commands.py b/src/ibek/commands.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..84c214b1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ibek/commands.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import operator
+
+from semantic_version import Version
+
+
+def semver_compare(base: str, target: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Compare two semVer strings similarly to pip's requirements specifier syntax
+    """
+    ops = {
+        ">=": operator.ge,
+        "<=": operator.le,
+        "==": operator.eq,
+        ">": operator.gt,
+        "<": operator.lt,
+    }
+    for op in ops.keys():
+        if op in target:
+            in_op = op
+            target = target.strip(op)
+            break
+
+    if ops[in_op](Version.coerce(base), Version.coerce(target)):
+        return True
+    else:
+        return False
diff --git a/tests/test_unit.py b/tests/test_unit.py
index 6b30201ce..ee5b90624 100644
--- a/tests/test_unit.py
+++ b/tests/test_unit.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 Some unit tests for ibek.
 """
 
+from ibek.commands import semver_compare
 from ibek.ioc import (
     clear_entity_model_ids,
     id_to_entity,
@@ -53,3 +54,12 @@ def test_object_references():
     assert device.type == "mymodule.device"
     assert device.port is port
     assert id_to_entity == {"PORT": port}
+
+
+def test_compare():
+    """
+    Verify the SemVer comparrisons work
+    """
+    assert semver_compare("1.1.1", "==1.1.1")
+    assert semver_compare("1.1.1", ">=1.1.0")
+    assert not semver_compare("1.1.1", ">=1.1.2")