diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2b1b633dd..ad083cb2b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ dist/
 kapitan.egg-info/
 tags
 .python-version
+.kapitan
diff --git a/kapitan/cli.py b/kapitan/cli.py
index 112898cb0..1e1a68699 100644
--- a/kapitan/cli.py
+++ b/kapitan/cli.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 import traceback
 import yaml
 
-from kapitan.utils import jsonnet_file, PrettyDumper, flatten_dict, searchvar, deep_get
+from kapitan.utils import jsonnet_file, PrettyDumper, flatten_dict, searchvar, deep_get, check_version, save_version
 from kapitan.targets import compile_targets
 from kapitan.resources import search_imports, resource_callbacks, inventory_reclass
 from kapitan.version import PROJECT_NAME, DESCRIPTION, VERSION
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ def main():
                                 action='store_true', default=False)
     compile_parser.add_argument('--inventory-path', default='./inventory',
                                 help='set inventory path, default is "./inventory"')
+    compile_parser.add_argument('--ignore-version-check',
+                                help='ignore the last kapitan version used to compile (from .kapitan)',
+                                action='store_true', default=False)
 
     inventory_parser = subparser.add_parser('inventory', help='show inventory')
     inventory_parser.add_argument('--target-name', '-t', default='',
@@ -170,11 +173,17 @@ def main():
         search_path = os.path.abspath(args.search_path)
         gpg_obj = secret_gpg_backend()
 
+        if not args.ignore_version_check:
+            check_version()
+
         compile_targets(args.inventory_path, search_path, args.output_path,
                         args.parallelism, args.targets,
                         prune=(not args.no_prune), secrets_path=args.secrets_path,
                         secrets_reveal=args.reveal, gpg_obj=gpg_obj)
 
+        if not args.ignore_version_check:
+            save_version()
+
     elif cmd == 'inventory':
         if args.pattern and args.target_name == '':
             parser.error("--pattern requires --target_name")
diff --git a/kapitan/utils.py b/kapitan/utils.py
index 8a0eaccd4..96e7d0338 100644
--- a/kapitan/utils.py
+++ b/kapitan/utils.py
@@ -22,18 +22,32 @@
 from hashlib import sha256
 import logging
 import os
+import sys
 import stat
 import collections
 import jinja2
 import _jsonnet as jsonnet
 import yaml
+from distutils.version import StrictVersion
 
+from kapitan.version import VERSION
 from kapitan.errors import CompileError
 
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+class termcolor:
+    HEADER = '\033[95m'
+    OKBLUE = '\033[94m'
+    OKGREEN = '\033[92m'
+    WARNING = '\033[93m'
+    FAIL = '\033[91m'
+    ENDC = '\033[0m'
+    BOLD = '\033[1m'
+    UNDERLINE = '\033[4m'
+
+
 def normalise_join_path(dirname, path):
     "Join dirname with path and return in normalised form"
     logger.debug(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(dirname, path)))
@@ -49,10 +63,12 @@ def jinja2_sha256_hex_filter(string):
     "Returns hex digest for string"
     return sha256(string.encode("UTF-8")).hexdigest()
 
+
 def jinja2_yaml_filter(obj):
     "Returns yaml for object"
     return yaml.safe_dump(obj, default_flow_style=False)
 
+
 def render_jinja2_file(name, context):
     "Render jinja2 file name with context"
     path, filename = os.path.split(name)
@@ -95,9 +111,10 @@ def render_jinja2(path, context):
             # get subpath and filename, strip any leading/trailing /
             name = render_path[len(os.path.commonprefix([root, path])):].strip('/')
             try:
-                rendered[name] = {"content": render_jinja2_file(render_path, context),
-                                  "mode": file_mode(render_path)
-                                 }
+                rendered[name] = {
+                    "content": render_jinja2_file(render_path, context),
+                    "mode": file_mode(render_path)
+                }
             except Exception as e:
                 logger.error("Jinja2 error: failed to render %s: %s", render_path, str(e))
                 raise CompileError(e)
@@ -217,3 +234,31 @@ def get_directory_hash(directory):
         raise
 
     return hash.hexdigest()
+
+
+def check_version():
+    '''
+    Checks that the last version of kapitan used is at least smaller or equal to current version.
+    If the last version of kapitan used is bigger, it will give instructions on how to upgrade and exit(1).
+    '''
+    if os.path.exists('.kapitan'):
+        with open('.kapitan', 'r') as f:
+            dot_kapitan = yaml.safe_load(f)
+            # If 'saved version is bigger than current version'
+            if dot_kapitan['version'] and StrictVersion(dot_kapitan['version']) > StrictVersion(VERSION):
+                print(f'{termcolor.WARNING}Current version: {VERSION}')
+                print(f'Last used version (in .kapitan): {dot_kapitan["version"]}{termcolor.ENDC}\n')
+                print(f'Please upgrade kapitan to at least "{dot_kapitan["version"]}" in order to keep results consistent:\n')
+                print('Docker: docker pull deepmind/kapitan')
+                print('Pip (user): pip3 install --user --upgrade git+https://github.com/deepmind/kapitan.git --process-dependency-links')
+                print('Pip (system): sudo pip3 install --upgrade git+https://github.com/deepmind/kapitan.git --process-dependency-links')
+                sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def save_version():
+    '''
+    Saves the current kapitan version to a local .kapitan file
+    '''
+    with open('.kapitan', 'w') as f:
+        dot_kapitan = {'version': VERSION}
+        yaml.safe_dump(dot_kapitan, stream=f, default_flow_style=False)
diff --git a/kapitan/version.py b/kapitan/version.py
index e732207fa..5cb0b1ef3 100644
--- a/kapitan/version.py
+++ b/kapitan/version.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 "Project description variables"
 
 PROJECT_NAME = 'kapitan'
-VERSION = '0.14.0'
+VERSION = '0.15.0'
 DESCRIPTION = ('Generic templated configuration management for Kubernetes,'
                'Terraform and other things')
 AUTHOR = 'Ricardo Amaro'