diff --git a/.github/workflows/check_version_availability.yaml b/.github/workflows/check_version_availability.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a2c31358
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check_version_availability.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+name: Check package version availability
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+
+jobs:
+  check_version_availability:
+    name: Check version availability
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: (!startsWith(github.event.pull_request.title, 'docs:'))
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.8"
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: make install-dev
+
+      - name: Check version availability
+        run: make check-version-availability
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run_checks.yaml b/.github/workflows/run_checks.yaml
index 7843f648..517d7a37 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run_checks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run_checks.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ on:
   pull_request:
 
 jobs:
+  check_version_availability:
+    name: Check version availability
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/check_version_availability.yaml
+
   lint_and_type_checks:
     name: Run lint and type checks
     uses: ./.github/workflows/lint_and_type_checks.yaml
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 42551615..31d6dab8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: clean install-dev build publish twine-check lint unit-tests integration-tests type-check check-code format check-changelog-entry build-api-reference
+.PHONY: clean install-dev build publish twine-check lint unit-tests integration-tests type-check check-code format check-version-availability check-changelog-entry build-api-reference
 
 # This is default for local testing, but GitHub workflows override it to a higher value in CI
 INTEGRATION_TESTS_CONCURRENCY = 1
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ format:
 	python3 -m isort src tests
 	python3 -m autopep8 --in-place --recursive src tests
 
+check-version-availability:
+	python3 scripts/check_version_availability.py
+
 check-changelog-entry:
 	python3 scripts/check_version_in_changelog.py
 
diff --git a/scripts/check_version_availability.py b/scripts/check_version_availability.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b133a9ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_version_availability.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+from utils import get_current_package_version, get_published_package_versions
+
+# Checks whether the current package version number was not already used in a published release.
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    current_version = get_current_package_version()
+
+    # Load the version numbers of the currently published versions from PyPI
+    published_versions = get_published_package_versions()
+
+    # We don't want to try to publish a version with the same version number as an already released stable version
+    if current_version in published_versions:
+        raise RuntimeError(f'The current version {current_version} was already released!')
diff --git a/scripts/update_version_for_prerelease.py b/scripts/update_version_for_prerelease.py
index d29fc313..51ddf655 100644
--- a/scripts/update_version_for_prerelease.py
+++ b/scripts/update_version_for_prerelease.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 
-import json
 import re
 import sys
-import urllib.request
 
-from utils import PACKAGE_NAME, get_current_package_version, set_current_package_version
+from utils import get_current_package_version, get_published_package_versions, set_current_package_version
 
 # Checks whether the current package version number was not already used in a published release,
 # and if not, modifies the package version number in pyproject.toml
@@ -32,16 +30,7 @@
         raise RuntimeError(f'The current version {current_version} does not match the proper semver format for stable releases (X.Y.Z)')
 
     # Load the version numbers of the currently published versions from PyPI
-    # If the URL returns 404, it means the package has no releases yet (which is okay in our case)
-    package_info_url = f'https://pypi.org/pypi/{PACKAGE_NAME}/json'
-    try:
-        conn = urllib.request.urlopen(package_info_url)
-        package_data = json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(package_info_url))
-        published_versions = list(package_data['releases'].keys())
-    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
-        if e.code != 404:
-            raise e
-        published_versions = []
+    published_versions = get_published_package_versions()
 
     # We don't want to publish a prerelease version with the same version number as an already released stable version
     if current_version in published_versions:
diff --git a/scripts/utils.py b/scripts/utils.py
index ad4e5339..06a3ace7 100644
--- a/scripts/utils.py
+++ b/scripts/utils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+import json
 import pathlib
+import urllib.request
 
 PACKAGE_NAME = 'apify'
 REPO_ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.resolve() / '..'
@@ -36,3 +38,17 @@ def set_current_package_version(version: str) -> None:
         pyproject_toml_file.seek(0)
         pyproject_toml_file.write(''.join(updated_pyproject_toml_file_lines))
         pyproject_toml_file.truncate()
+
+
+# Load the version numbers of the currently published versions from PyPI
+def get_published_package_versions() -> list:
+    package_info_url = f'https://pypi.org/pypi/{PACKAGE_NAME}/json'
+    try:
+        package_data = json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(package_info_url))
+        published_versions = list(package_data['releases'].keys())
+    # If the URL returns 404, it means the package has no releases yet (which is okay in our case)
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+        if e.code != 404:
+            raise e
+        published_versions = []
+    return published_versions