diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index 571fb1cd..250dee8e 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@
       "matchPackageNames": ["pylint"],
       "allowedVersions": "<4.0.0"
     },
+    {
+      "groupName": "allowed django versions",
+      "matchManagers": ["pep621"],
+      "matchPackageNames": ["django"],
+      "allowedVersions": "<6.0.0"
+    },
     {
       "enabled": false,
       "groupName": "ignored js dependencies",
diff --git a/src/backend/pyproject.toml b/src/backend/pyproject.toml
index f3f2cff7..1b7e829b 100644
--- a/src/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/src/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "django-redis==6.0.0",
     "django-storages[s3]==1.14.6",
     "django-timezone-field>=5.1",
-    "django==6.0",
+    "django<6.0.0",
     "django-treebeard==4.8.0",
     "djangorestframework==3.16.1",
     "drf_spectacular==0.29.0",