diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index fb07650c2c4a9c4f80c065bc8d5a2f6ff7695f4c..b4e1d25fe0f0bef559cd1e3a7c9e3ba47767f252 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+Synapse 1.26.0 (2021-01-27)
+===========================
+
+This release brings a new schema version for Synapse and rolling back to a previous
+version is not trivial. Please review [UPGRADE.rst](UPGRADE.rst) for more details
+on these changes and for general upgrade guidance.
+
+No significant changes since 1.26.0rc2.
+
+
 Synapse 1.26.0rc2 (2021-01-25)
 ==============================
 
@@ -19,8 +29,8 @@ Synapse 1.26.0rc1 (2021-01-20)
 ==============================
 
 This release brings a new schema version for Synapse and rolling back to a previous
-version is not trivial.  Please review [UPGRADE.rst](UPGRADE.rst) for more details
-on these changes  and for general upgrade guidance.
+version is not trivial. Please review [UPGRADE.rst](UPGRADE.rst) for more details
+on these changes and for general upgrade guidance.
 
 Features
 --------
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 3cd682f9e708c47dc758b774ce884d86e9397541..93601dbad0cbba6700bb0ba5b6402688ca094875 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-__version__ = "1.26.0rc2"
+__version__ = "1.26.0"
 
 if bool(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_TEST_PATCH_LOG_CONTEXTS", False)):
     # We import here so that we don't have to install a bunch of deps when