diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 61d38f6f..981dbc49 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,9 +17,15 @@ Unreleased section should follow [Release Toolkit](https://github.com/newrelic/r
 encourages the user to hack the YAML if needed. This is also needed so an empty YAML is there for the
 other actions like `is-empty` or `is-held` to work properly.
 
+`next-version` should also follow the composable nature of `release-toolkit`. But this part of the tool
+should fail if there is no new version in case a user hack the YAML to a point that is not bumping the
+version. Not failing can lead scripts to override an already existing version. This is also a change
+on the default behavior.
+
 ### Breaking
 - `ohi-release-notes` action has been moved to another repository
 - `generate-yaml` does not fail to create an empty YAML by default
+- `next-version` fail if there are no version to be bumped
 
 ## v1.2.0 - 2024-08-09
 
diff --git a/next-version/action.yml b/next-version/action.yml
index 0264869b..8574ce4c 100644
--- a/next-version/action.yml
+++ b/next-version/action.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ inputs:
   fail:
     description: Fail if no new version found, by default the current version will be returned in that case
     required: false
-    default: "0"
+    default: "1"
 outputs:
   next-version:
     description: Semver next version, with leading v
diff --git a/src/app/nextversion/nextversion.go b/src/app/nextversion/nextversion.go
index fdcb7536..4769607a 100644
--- a/src/app/nextversion/nextversion.go
+++ b/src/app/nextversion/nextversion.go
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ next-version will exit with an error if no previous versions are found in the gi
 			EnvVars: common.EnvFor(failFlag),
 			Usage: "If set, command will exit with a code of 1 if no new version bump is produced. If not set," +
 				"the current version will be returned.",
-			Value: false,
+			Value: true,
 		},
 	},
 	Action: NextVersion,
@@ -166,10 +166,11 @@ func NextVersion(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 	case nextOverride == nil && next != nil:
 		// If we don't have an override, the bumper did not bump anything, and the user has set `--fail`, then we should error out.
 		if errors.Is(err, bumper.ErrNoNewVersion) {
-			log.Warnf("None of the changelog entries produced a version bump, returning current version")
-			if cCtx.Bool("fail") {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failing by user request: %w", err)
+			if cCtx.Bool(failFlag) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("none of the changelog entries produced a version bump: %w", err)
 			}
+
+			log.Warnf("None of the changelog entries produced a version bump, returning current version")
 		}
 
 	case nextOverride == nil && next == nil:
diff --git a/src/app/nextversion/nextversion_test.go b/src/app/nextversion/nextversion_test.go
index 572b1ae5..2b920c2c 100644
--- a/src/app/nextversion/nextversion_test.go
+++ b/src/app/nextversion/nextversion_test.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/newrelic/release-toolkit/src/app"
 	"github.com/newrelic/release-toolkit/src/bump"
+	"github.com/newrelic/release-toolkit/src/bumper"
 )
 
 //nolint:paralleltest, funlen // urfave/cli cannot be tested concurrently.
@@ -87,10 +88,18 @@ changes:
 			`),
 		},
 		{
-			name:     "No_Bump",
-			args:     "-current v1.2.3",
+			name:     "No_Bump_without_failing",
+			args:     "-current v1.2.3 -fail=false",
 			expected: "v1.2.3",
 			yaml: strings.TrimSpace(`
+changes: []
+			`),
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "No_Bump_fails_by_default",
+			args:          "-current v1.2.3",
+			errorExpected: bumper.ErrNoNewVersion,
+			yaml: strings.TrimSpace(`
 changes: []
 			`),
 		},