diff --git a/cmake/utils.cmake b/cmake/utils.cmake
index ca0062ba4fab..5047c354ff7d 100644
--- a/cmake/utils.cmake
+++ b/cmake/utils.cmake
@@ -495,7 +495,13 @@ function (define_extension_target MOD_NAME)
     set(SOABI_KEYWORD "")
   endif()
 
-  if (ARG_USE_SABI)
+  run_python(IS_FREETHREADED_PYTHON
+    "import sysconfig; print(1 if sysconfig.get_config_var(\"Py_GIL_DISABLED\") else 0)"
+    "Failed to determine whether interpreter is free-threaded")
+
+  # Free-threaded Python doesn't yet support the stable ABI (see PEP 803/809),
+  # so avoid using the stable ABI under free-threading only.
+  if (ARG_USE_SABI AND NOT IS_FREETHREADED_PYTHON)
     Python_add_library(${MOD_NAME} MODULE USE_SABI ${ARG_USE_SABI} ${SOABI_KEYWORD} "${ARG_SOURCES}")
   else()
     Python_add_library(${MOD_NAME} MODULE ${SOABI_KEYWORD} "${ARG_SOURCES}")
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8871b04d8fc4..0022e7fe0bf3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import sysconfig
 from pathlib import Path
 from shutil import which
 
@@ -74,9 +75,13 @@ def is_ninja_available() -> bool:
     return which("ninja") is not None
 
 
+def is_freethreaded():
+    return bool(sysconfig.get_config_var("Py_GIL_DISABLED"))
+
+
 class CMakeExtension(Extension):
     def __init__(self, name: str, cmake_lists_dir: str = ".", **kwa) -> None:
-        super().__init__(name, sources=[], py_limited_api=True, **kwa)
+        super().__init__(name, sources=[], py_limited_api=not is_freethreaded(), **kwa)
         self.cmake_lists_dir = os.path.abspath(cmake_lists_dir)