diff --git a/build/pkgs/fricas/spkg-configure.m4 b/build/pkgs/fricas/spkg-configure.m4
index 905859f6a95..97353140bac 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/fricas/spkg-configure.m4
+++ b/build/pkgs/fricas/spkg-configure.m4
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 SAGE_SPKG_CONFIGURE(
     [fricas], [
+        dnl
+        dnl make sure that the minimal version is also set in src/sage/feature/fricas.py
+        dnl
         AC_CACHE_CHECK([for FriCAS >= 1.3.8], [ac_cv_path_FRICAS], [
         AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK([FRICAS], [fricas], [
             fricas_version=`echo ")quit" | $ac_path_FRICAS -nox -noclef | grep Version | tail -1 2>&1 \
diff --git a/src/sage/features/fricas.py b/src/sage/features/fricas.py
index 8c3c32c0edd..1c433abfae5 100644
--- a/src/sage/features/fricas.py
+++ b/src/sage/features/fricas.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import subprocess
 from . import Executable, FeatureTestResult
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 
 class FriCAS(Executable):
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@ class FriCAS(Executable):
         sage: FriCAS().is_present()  # optional - fricas
         FeatureTestResult('fricas', True)
     """
+    MINIMUM_VERSION = "1.3.8"
+
     def __init__(self):
         r"""
         TESTS::
@@ -38,6 +41,23 @@ def __init__(self):
                             executable='fricas',
                             url='https://fricas.github.io')
 
+    def get_version(self):
+        r"""
+        Retrieve the installed FriCAS version
+
+        EXAMPLES::
+            sage: from sage.features.fricas import FriCAS
+            sage: FriCAS().get_version() # optional - fricas
+            '1.3...'
+        """
+        try:
+            output = subprocess.check_output(['fricas', '--version'], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+            version_line = output.decode('utf-8').strip()
+            version = version_line.split()[1]
+            return version
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+            return None
+
     def is_functional(self):
         r"""
         Check whether ``fricas`` works on trivial input.
@@ -53,14 +73,24 @@ def is_functional(self):
             lines = subprocess.check_output(command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=True)
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
             return FeatureTestResult(self, False,
-                    reason="Call `{command}` failed with exit code {e.returncode}".format(command=" ".join(command), e=e))
+                                     reason="Call `{command}` failed with exit code {e.returncode}".format(command=" ".join(command), e=e))
 
         expected = b"FriCAS"
         if lines.find(expected) == -1:
             return FeatureTestResult(self, False,
-                    reason="Call `{command}` did not produce output which contains `{expected}`".format(command=" ".join(command), expected=expected))
+                                     reason="Call `{command}` did not produce output which contains `{expected}`".format(command=" ".join(command),
+                                                                                                                         expected=expected))
+        version = self.get_version()
+        if version is None:
+            return FeatureTestResult(self, False,
+                                     reason="Could not determine FriCAS version")
 
-        return FeatureTestResult(self, True)
+        try:
+            if Version(version) < Version(self.MINIMUM_VERSION):
+                return FeatureTestResult(self, False, reason=f"FriCAS version {version} is too old; minimum required is {self.MINIMUM_VERSION}")
+            return FeatureTestResult(self, True)
+        except ValueError:
+            return FeatureTestResult(self, False, reason="Invalid Version Format")
 
 
 def all_features():