diff --git a/apcd-cms/Makefile b/apcd-cms/Makefile
index d4899628..095a7d38 100644
--- a/apcd-cms/Makefile
+++ b/apcd-cms/Makefile
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@ DOCKERHUB_REPO := $(shell cat ./docker_repo.var)
 DOCKER_TAG ?= $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 DOCKER_IMAGE := $(DOCKERHUB_REPO):$(DOCKER_TAG)
 DOCKER_IMAGE_LATEST := $(DOCKERHUB_REPO):latest
+DOCKER_COMPOSE_CMD := $(shell if command -v docker-compose > /dev/null; then echo "docker-compose"; else echo "docker compose"; fi)
 
 # `DOCKER_IMAGE_BRANCH` tag is the git tag for the commit if it exists, else the branch on which the commit exists
 DOCKER_IMAGE_BRANCH := $(DOCKERHUB_REPO):$(shell git describe --exact-match --tags 2> /dev/null || git symbolic-ref --short HEAD)
 
 #.PHONY: build
 build:
-	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml build
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE_CMD) -f docker-compose.dev.yml build
 
 .PHONY: build-full
 build-full:
@@ -27,12 +28,12 @@ publish-latest:
 
 .PHONY: start
 start:
-	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE_CMD) -f docker-compose.dev.yml up
 
 .PHONY: stop
 stop:
-	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml down
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE_CMD) -f docker-compose.dev.yml down
 
 .PHONY: stop-full
 stop-v:
-	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml down -v
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE_CMD) -f docker-compose.dev.yml down -v