diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 0f9c1693..dcbf2a18 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "CompatHelper"
 uuid = "aa819f21-2bde-4658-8897-bab36330d9b7"
 authors = ["Dilum Aluthge", "Brown Center for Biomedical Informatics", "contributors"]
-version = "3.3.0"
+version = "3.4.0"
 
 [deps]
 Base64 = "2a0f44e3-6c83-55bd-87e4-b1978d98bd5f"
diff --git a/src/main.jl b/src/main.jl
index 54314dd6..10f494a1 100644
--- a/src/main.jl
+++ b/src/main.jl
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Main entry point for the package.
 - `include_yanked=false`: When set to true, yanked versions will be included when calculating what the latest version of a package is
 """
 function main(
-    env::AbstractDict=ENV, ci_cfg::CIService=auto_detect_ci_service(; env=env); kwargs...
+    env::AbstractDict=ENV, ci_cfg::CIService=auto_detect_ci_service(; env=env); strict_version::Bool=false, kwargs...
 )
     options = Options(; kwargs...)
 
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function main(
 
         for dep in deps
             pr = @mock make_pr_for_new_version(
-                api, repo, dep, options.entry_type, ci_cfg; options, subdir
+                api, repo, dep, options.entry_type, ci_cfg; strict_version, options, subdir
             )
 
             if !isnothing(pr)
diff --git a/src/utilities/new_versions.jl b/src/utilities/new_versions.jl
index a652e692..e593fd9a 100644
--- a/src/utilities/new_versions.jl
+++ b/src/utilities/new_versions.jl
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ function new_compat_entry(::EntryType, old_compat::Nothing, new_compat::Abstract
     return "$(strip(new_compat))"
 end
 
-function compat_version_number(ver::VersionNumber)
+function compat_version_number(ver::VersionNumber, handle_equality_in_entries::Bool=false)
+    handle_equality_in_entries && return "= $(ver.major).$(ver.minor).$(ver.patch)"
     (ver.major > 0) && return "$(ver.major)"
     (ver.minor > 0) && return "0.$(ver.minor)"
 
@@ -208,13 +209,17 @@ function make_pr_for_new_version(
     env=ENV,
     options::Options,
     subdir::String,
+    strict_version::Bool=false
 )
     if !continue_with_pr(dep, options.bump_compat_containing_equality_specifier)
         return nothing
     end
 
     # Get new compat entry version, pr title, and pr body text
-    compat_entry_for_latest_version = compat_version_number(dep.latest_version)
+    handle_equality_in_entries = skip_equality_specifiers(
+        bump_compat_containing_equality_specifier, dep.version_verbatim
+    ) && strict_version
+    compat_entry_for_latest_version = compat_version_number(dep.latest_version, handle_equality_in_entries)
     brand_new_compat = new_compat_entry(
         entry_type, dep.version_verbatim, compat_entry_for_latest_version
     )
diff --git a/test/utilities/new_versions.jl b/test/utilities/new_versions.jl
index 5cc75207..0e5d3b09 100644
--- a/test/utilities/new_versions.jl
+++ b/test/utilities/new_versions.jl
@@ -79,6 +79,19 @@ end
     @test CompatHelper.compat_version_number(vn) == expected
 end
 
+@testset "Strict compat_version_number -- $(vn)" for (vn, expected) in [
+    (VersionNumber("1.0.0"), "= 1.0.0"),
+    (VersionNumber("1.1.1"), "= 1.1.1"),
+    (VersionNumber("1.1.0"), "= 1.1.0"),
+    (VersionNumber("0.1.0"), "= 0.1.0"),
+    (VersionNumber("0.1.1"), "= 0.1.1"),
+    (VersionNumber("0.0.1"), "= 0.0.1"),
+    (VersionNumber("0.0.0"), "= 0.0.0"),
+]
+    handle_equality_in_entries=true
+    @test CompatHelper.compat_version_number(vn, handle_equality_in_entries) == expected
+end
+
 @testset "subdir_string -- $(subdir)" for (subdir, expected) in [
     ("foobar", "foobar"), ("foo/bar", "bar"), ("1", "1"), ("", "")
 ]