diff --git a/apis/psqlclusters/definition.yaml b/apis/psqlclusters/definition.yaml
index b32a0f4..dbbec26 100644
--- a/apis/psqlclusters/definition.yaml
+++ b/apis/psqlclusters/definition.yaml
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ spec:
                     description: Postgres major version. Defaults to "17".
                     type: string
                     # renovate: datasource=docker depName=cloudnative-pg/postgresql registryUrl=https://ghcr.io
-                    default: "17"
+                    default: "18"
                   parameters:
                     description: postgres.conf parameters (e.g. `shared_buffers`, `max_connections`).
                     type: object
diff --git a/examples/psqlclusters/standard.yaml b/examples/psqlclusters/standard.yaml
index 46a6bfc..36ec127 100644
--- a/examples/psqlclusters/standard.yaml
+++ b/examples/psqlclusters/standard.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ spec:
     size: 100Gi
   postgresql:
     # renovate: datasource=docker depName=cloudnative-pg/postgresql registryUrl=https://ghcr.io
-    version: "17"
+    version: "18"
     parameters:
       shared_buffers: "1GB"
       effective_cache_size: "3GB"
diff --git a/functions/cluster/000-state-init.yaml.gotmpl b/functions/cluster/000-state-init.yaml.gotmpl
index b2ae50b..7e85625 100644
--- a/functions/cluster/000-state-init.yaml.gotmpl
+++ b/functions/cluster/000-state-init.yaml.gotmpl
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
 # ==============================================================================
 {{- $pgSpec := $spec.postgresql | default dict }}
 # renovate: datasource=docker depName=cloudnative-pg/postgresql registryUrl=https://ghcr.io
-{{- $postgresVersion := $pgSpec.version | default "17" }}
+{{- $postgresVersion := $pgSpec.version | default "18" }}
 {{- $postgresql := dict
   "version" $postgresVersion
   "parameters" ($pgSpec.parameters | default dict)
diff --git a/tests/test-cluster/main.k b/tests/test-cluster/main.k
index 0f3c7d5..cb0f4da 100644
--- a/tests/test-cluster/main.k
+++ b/tests/test-cluster/main.k
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ _items = [
                     storage = {size = "5Gi"}
                     postgresql = {
                         # renovate: datasource=docker depName=cloudnative-pg/postgresql registryUrl=https://ghcr.io
-                        version = "17"
+                        version = "18"
                         parameters = {
                             shared_buffers = "256MB"
                             max_connections = "200"