diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/apm-vertx4-plugin/pom.xml b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/apm-vertx4-plugin/pom.xml
index d8da35a43e..dffc25dc84 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/apm-vertx4-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/apm-vertx4-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 
     <properties>
         <apm-agent-parent.base.dir>${project.basedir}/../../..</apm-agent-parent.base.dir>
-        <version.vertx>4.3.2</version.vertx>
+        <version.vertx>4.4.0</version.vertx>
+        <version.vertx.test>${version.vertx}</version.vertx.test>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/pom.xml b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/pom.xml
index e4d4a984f4..1127472266 100644
--- a/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/pom.xml
+++ b/apm-agent-plugins/apm-vertx/pom.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
 
     <properties>
         <apm-agent-parent.base.dir>${project.basedir}/../..</apm-agent-parent.base.dir>
-        <version.vertx.test>[4.0.2,)</version.vertx.test>
+        <!-- stick to a known older version that works with vertx3 -->
+        <version.vertx.test>4.3.2</version.vertx.test>
     </properties>
 
     <modules>