diff --git a/src/extensions/extension-discovery/is-compatible-extension/is-compatible-extension.ts b/src/extensions/extension-discovery/is-compatible-extension/is-compatible-extension.ts
index 0485ebd980..d9bdb89adb 100644
--- a/src/extensions/extension-discovery/is-compatible-extension/is-compatible-extension.ts
+++ b/src/extensions/extension-discovery/is-compatible-extension/is-compatible-extension.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) OpenLens Authors. All rights reserved.
  * Licensed under MIT License. See LICENSE in root directory for more information.
  */
-import type { SemVer } from "semver";
-import semver from "semver";
+import semver, { SemVer } from "semver";
 import type { LensExtensionManifest } from "../../lens-extension";
 
 interface Dependencies {
@@ -11,16 +10,17 @@ interface Dependencies {
 }
 
 export const isCompatibleExtension = (deps: Dependencies): ((manifest: LensExtensionManifest) => boolean) => {
-  const { major: appMajor } = deps.appSemVer;
+  const { major: appVersion } = deps.appSemVer;
 
   return (manifest: LensExtensionManifest): boolean => {
     if (manifest?.engines.lens) {
-      const [extMajor, extMinor] = manifest.engines.lens.split(".");
+      const { major: extMajor, minor: extMinor } = new SemVer(manifest.engines.lens, {
+        loose: true,
+      });
 
-      return semver.gte(`${extMajor}.${extMinor}`, `${appMajor}.0`);
+      return semver.gte(`${extMajor}.${extMinor}`, `${appVersion}.0`);
     }
 
-    // all extensions by default should be compatible with any Lens-engine (if not specified)
-    return true;
+    return false; // not compatible by default
   };
 };
diff --git a/src/extensions/lens-extension.ts b/src/extensions/lens-extension.ts
index 0706fd4d3a..7b11d20d61 100644
--- a/src/extensions/lens-extension.ts
+++ b/src/extensions/lens-extension.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export interface LensExtensionManifest extends PackageJson {
    * Only MAJOR.MINOR version is taken in consideration.
    */
   engines?: {
-    lens?: string;
+    lens?: string; // "semver"-package format
     npm?: string;
     node?: string;
   };