diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/__init__.py b/Lib/fontTools/__init__.py
index 5ef8b124e..2381f4105 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/__init__.py
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ from fontTools.misc.loggingTools import configLogger
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-version = __version__ = "4.44.3.dev0"
+version = __version__ = "4.44.3"
 
 __all__ = ["version", "log", "configLogger"]
diff --git a/NEWS.rst b/NEWS.rst
index 638bf63aa..409ab7227 100644
--- a/NEWS.rst
+++ b/NEWS.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+4.44.3 (released 2023-11-15)
+----------------------------
+
 - [subset] Only prune codepage ranges for OS/2.version >= 1, ignore otherwise (#3334).
 - [instancer] Ensure hhea vertical metrics stay in sync with OS/2 ones after instancing
   MVAR table containing 'hasc', 'hdsc' or 'hlgp' tags (#3297).
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 93c69b620..9f45e4b77 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 4.44.3.dev0
+current_version = 4.44.3
 commit = True
 tag = False
 tag_name = {new_version}
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0a95127ee..703cc42bb 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ if ext_modules:
 
 setup_params = dict(
     name="fonttools",
-    version="4.44.3.dev0",
+    version="4.44.3",
     description="Tools to manipulate font files",
     author="Just van Rossum",
     author_email="just@letterror.com",