diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb419ebb5a..255a93790f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Highlights of this release:
 - Significant changes to the exposed C API and language bindings.
 
 ### Breaking Changes
+- The Ruby API now defaults to `version: "nearest"` instead of `version: "latest"`, so code is parsed with the syntax of the running Ruby (or the closest version prism supports). Pass `version: "latest"` to keep the previous behavior. [#4247](https://github.com/ruby/prism/issues/4247)
 - Optional locations like `StringNode#closing_loc` in `'foo` that were empty for syntax-invalid code will now be `nil` instead.
 - `MissingNode` has been replaced by `ErrorRecoveryNode`. `ErrorRecoveryNode` wraps unexpected nodes, so when walking syntax-invalid code you will now only need to handle this one specific node type.
 - Require arguments for `Prism::Source.for`. The second and third positional parameters are no longer optional.
diff --git a/ext/prism/extension.c b/ext/prism/extension.c
index 8d24a99a7b..e6768deef4 100644
--- a/ext/prism/extension.c
+++ b/ext/prism/extension.c
@@ -200,6 +200,23 @@ build_options_scopes(pm_options_t *options, VALUE scopes) {
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Set the version option to the syntax version of the currently running Ruby,
+ * or to the closest version prism supports if it does not know that one.
+ */
+static void
+options_version_set_nearest(pm_options_t *options) {
+    if (!pm_options_version_set(options, ruby_version, 3)) {
+        // Prism doesn't know this specific version. Is it lower?
+        if (ruby_version[0] < '3' || (ruby_version[0] == '3' && ruby_version[2] < '3')) {
+            pm_options_version_set_lowest(options);
+        } else {
+            // Must be higher.
+            pm_options_version_set_highest(options);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * An iterator function that is called for each key-value in the keywords hash.
  */
@@ -231,15 +248,7 @@ build_options_i(VALUE key, VALUE value, VALUE argument) {
                     rb_exc_raise(rb_exc_new_cstr(rb_cPrismCurrentVersionError, ruby_version));
                 }
             } else if (RSTRING_LEN(value) == 7 && strncmp(version, "nearest", 7) == 0) {
-                if (!pm_options_version_set(options, ruby_version, 3)) {
-                    // Prism doesn't know this specific version. Is it lower?
-                    if (ruby_version[0] < '3' || (ruby_version[0] == '3' && ruby_version[2] < '3')) {
-                        pm_options_version_set_lowest(options);
-                    } else {
-                        // Must be higher.
-                        pm_options_version_set_highest(options);
-                    }
-                }
+                options_version_set_nearest(options);
             } else if (!pm_options_version_set(options, version, RSTRING_LEN(value))) {
                 rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid version: %" PRIsVALUE, value);
             }
@@ -345,6 +354,7 @@ build_options(VALUE argument) {
 static void
 extract_options(pm_options_t *options, VALUE filepath, VALUE keywords) {
     pm_options_line_set(options, 1); /* default */
+    options_version_set_nearest(options); /* default */
 
     if (!NIL_P(keywords)) {
         struct build_options_data data = { .options = options, .keywords = keywords };
@@ -1151,14 +1161,16 @@ parse_input(const uint8_t *input, size_t input_length, const pm_options_t *optio
  *       parsed. This should be an array of arrays of symbols or nil. Scopes are
  *       ordered from the outermost scope to the innermost one.
  * * `version` - the version of Ruby syntax that prism should used to parse Ruby
- *       code. By default prism assumes you want to parse with the latest
- *       version of Ruby syntax (which you can trigger with `nil` or
- *       `"latest"`). You may also restrict the syntax to a specific version of
- *       Ruby, e.g., with `"3.3.0"`. To parse with the same syntax version that
- *       the current Ruby is running use `version: "current"`. To parse with the
- *       nearest version to the current Ruby that is running, use
- *       `version: "nearest"`. Raises ArgumentError if the version is not
- *       currently supported by Prism.
+ *       code. By default prism parses with the syntax version nearest to the
+ *       current Ruby that is running (which you can trigger with `nil` or
+ *       `"nearest"`): the running version if prism supports it, otherwise the
+ *       closest version that it does support. You may also restrict the syntax
+ *       to a specific version of Ruby, e.g., with `"3.3.0"`. To parse with
+ *       exactly the same syntax version that the current Ruby is running use
+ *       `version: "current"`, which raises Prism::CurrentVersionError if prism
+ *       does not support it. To parse with the latest version of Ruby syntax
+ *       that prism supports, use `version: "latest"`. Raises ArgumentError if
+ *       the version is not currently supported by Prism.
  */
 static VALUE
 parse(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self) {
diff --git a/lib/prism/ffi.rb b/lib/prism/ffi.rb
index 013f02ca8c..a0948beddb 100644
--- a/lib/prism/ffi.rb
+++ b/lib/prism/ffi.rb
@@ -565,9 +565,9 @@ def dump_options_version(version)
       case version
       when "current"
         version_string_to_number(RUBY_VERSION) || raise(CurrentVersionError, RUBY_VERSION)
-      when "latest", nil
+      when "latest"
         0 # Handled in pm_parser_init
-      when "nearest"
+      when "nearest", nil
         dump = version_string_to_number(RUBY_VERSION)
         return dump if dump
         if RUBY_VERSION < "3.3"
diff --git a/test/prism/api/parse_test.rb b/test/prism/api/parse_test.rb
index 6d487e6ce9..c66a69caf9 100644
--- a/test/prism/api/parse_test.rb
+++ b/test/prism/api/parse_test.rb
@@ -173,6 +173,17 @@ def test_nearest
       assert Prism.parse_success?("1 + 1", version: "nearest")
     end
 
+    def test_version_default
+      # Trailing commas in method parameters are only valid as of Ruby 4.1.
+      source = "def foo(a,); end"
+      expected = RUBY_VERSION >= "4.1"
+
+      assert_equal expected, Prism.parse_success?(source)
+      assert_equal expected, Prism.parse_success?(source, version: nil)
+      assert_equal expected, Prism.parse_success?(source, version: "nearest")
+      assert Prism.parse_success?(source, version: "latest")
+    end
+
     def test_scopes
       assert_kind_of Prism::CallNode, Prism.parse_statement("foo")
       assert_kind_of Prism::LocalVariableReadNode, Prism.parse_statement("foo", scopes: [[:foo]])
diff --git a/test/prism/result/source_location_test.rb b/test/prism/result/source_location_test.rb
index a8d27b95a8..493ce7729c 100644
--- a/test/prism/result/source_location_test.rb
+++ b/test/prism/result/source_location_test.rb
@@ -536,25 +536,21 @@ def test_InterpolatedXStringNode
     end
 
     def test_ItLocalVariableReadNode
-      assert_location(ItLocalVariableReadNode, "-> { it }", 5...7) do |node|
+      assert_location(ItLocalVariableReadNode, "-> { it }", 5...7, version: "3.4.0") do |node|
         node.body.body.first
       end
 
-      assert_location(ItLocalVariableReadNode, "foo { it }", 6...8) do |node|
+      assert_location(ItLocalVariableReadNode, "foo { it }", 6...8, version: "3.4.0") do |node|
         node.block.body.body.first
       end
 
       assert_location(CallNode, "-> { it }", 5...7, version: "3.3.0") do |node|
         node.body.body.first
       end
-
-      assert_location(ItLocalVariableReadNode, "-> { it }", 5...7, version: "3.4.0") do |node|
-        node.body.body.first
-      end
     end
 
     def test_ItParametersNode
-      assert_location(ItParametersNode, "-> { it }", &:parameters)
+      assert_location(ItParametersNode, "-> { it }", version: "3.4.0", &:parameters)
     end
 
     def test_KeywordHashNode
@@ -651,7 +647,7 @@ def test_NilNode
     end
 
     def test_NoBlockParameterNode
-      assert_location(NoBlockParameterNode, "def foo(&nil); end", 8...12) { |node| node.parameters.block }
+      assert_location(NoBlockParameterNode, "def foo(&nil); end", 8...12, version: "4.1") { |node| node.parameters.block }
     end
 
     def test_NoKeywordsParameterNode
@@ -701,7 +697,7 @@ def test_PinnedExpressionNode
 
     def test_PinnedVariableNode
       assert_location(PinnedVariableNode, "bar = 1; foo in ^bar", 16...20, &:pattern)
-      assert_location(PinnedVariableNode, "proc { 1 in ^it }.call(1)", 12...15) do |node|
+      assert_location(PinnedVariableNode, "proc { 1 in ^it }.call(1)", 12...15, version: "3.4.0") do |node|
         node.receiver.block.body.body.first.pattern
       end
     end
diff --git a/test/prism/ruby/parameters_signature_test.rb b/test/prism/ruby/parameters_signature_test.rb
index 1ca2b144a9..03355b3111 100644
--- a/test/prism/ruby/parameters_signature_test.rb
+++ b/test/prism/ruby/parameters_signature_test.rb
@@ -51,8 +51,7 @@ def test_nokey
     end
 
     def test_noblock
-      # FIXME: `compare: RUBY_VERSION >= "4.1"` once builds are available
-      assert_parameters([[:noblock]], "&nil", compare: false)
+      assert_parameters([[:noblock]], "&nil", compare: RUBY_VERSION >= "4.1", version: "4.1")
     end
 
     def test_keyrest_anonymous
@@ -86,9 +85,9 @@ def test_invalid_syntax
 
     private
 
-    def assert_parameters(expected, source, compare: true)
+    def assert_parameters(expected, source, compare: true, version: nil)
       # Compare against our expectation.
-      assert_equal(expected, signature(source))
+      assert_equal(expected, signature(source, version: version))
 
       return unless compare
       # Compare against Ruby's expectation.
@@ -97,8 +96,8 @@ def assert_parameters(expected, source, compare: true)
       assert_equal(expected, object.method(:m).parameters)
     end
 
-    def signature(source)
-      program = Prism.parse("def m(#{source}); end").value
+    def signature(source, version: nil)
+      program = Prism.parse("def m(#{source}); end", version: version).value
       program.statements.body.first.parameters.signature
     end
   end