diff --git a/commitizen/changelog.py b/commitizen/changelog.py
index 7bb9007cdc..d26ad22681 100644
--- a/commitizen/changelog.py
+++ b/commitizen/changelog.py
@@ -66,13 +66,13 @@ def get_commit_tag(commit: GitCommit, tags: List[GitTag]) -> Optional[GitTag]:
 
 
 def generate_tree_from_commits(
-    commits: List[GitCommit],
-    tags: List[GitTag],
-    commit_parser: str,
-    changelog_pattern: str = defaults.bump_pattern,
-    unreleased_version: Optional[str] = None,
-    change_type_map: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
-    changelog_message_builder_hook: Optional[Callable] = None,
+        commits: List[GitCommit],
+        tags: List[GitTag],
+        commit_parser: str,
+        changelog_pattern: str = defaults.bump_pattern,
+        unreleased_version: Optional[str] = None,
+        change_type_map: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
+        changelog_message_builder_hook: Optional[Callable] = None,
 ) -> Iterable[Dict]:
     pat = re.compile(changelog_pattern)
     map_pat = re.compile(commit_parser, re.MULTILINE)
@@ -169,13 +169,25 @@ def render_changelog(tree: Iterable) -> str:
     return changelog
 
 
-def parse_version_from_markdown(value: str) -> Optional[str]:
+def parse_version_from_markdown(value: str, pr_filter: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    """
+    :param pr_filter: pass to only find a certain type of version, or None for any
+    version type. Example: when there is 1.0.0 and 2.0.0b1 and you pass "" 1.0.0 will be returned
+    as it is the last release.
+    """
     if not value.startswith("#"):
         return None
+    if not value.__contains__(pr_filter):
+        return None
     m = re.search(defaults.version_parser, value)
     if not m:
         return None
-    return m.groupdict().get("version")
+    version = m.groupdict().get("version")
+    # when pr_filter is provided but empty
+    is_stable = re.match(defaults.stable_parser, version)
+    if not is_stable and pr_filter == "":
+        return None  # because the version is a pre-release but a "full" release is expected
+    return version
 
 
 def parse_title_type_of_line(value: str) -> Optional[str]:
@@ -186,7 +198,7 @@ def parse_title_type_of_line(value: str) -> Optional[str]:
     return m.groupdict().get("title")
 
 
-def get_metadata(filepath: str) -> Dict:
+def get_metadata(filepath: str, pr_filter: str) -> Dict:
     unreleased_start: Optional[int] = None
     unreleased_end: Optional[int] = None
     unreleased_title: Optional[str] = None
@@ -213,13 +225,13 @@ def get_metadata(filepath: str) -> Dict:
                 unreleased_title = unreleased
                 continue
             elif (
-                isinstance(unreleased_title, str)
-                and parse_title_type_of_line(line) == unreleased_title
+                    isinstance(unreleased_title, str)
+                    and parse_title_type_of_line(line) == unreleased_title
             ):
                 unreleased_end = index
 
             # Try to find the latest release done
-            version = parse_version_from_markdown(line)
+            version = parse_version_from_markdown(line, pr_filter)
             if version:
                 latest_version = version
                 latest_version_position = index
@@ -259,10 +271,10 @@ def incremental_build(new_content: str, lines: List, metadata: Dict) -> List:
         elif index == unreleased_end:
             skip = False
             if (
-                latest_version_position is None
-                or isinstance(latest_version_position, int)
-                and isinstance(unreleased_end, int)
-                and latest_version_position > unreleased_end
+                    latest_version_position is None
+                    or isinstance(latest_version_position, int)
+                    and isinstance(unreleased_end, int)
+                    and latest_version_position > unreleased_end
             ):
                 continue
 
@@ -270,10 +282,9 @@ def incremental_build(new_content: str, lines: List, metadata: Dict) -> List:
             continue
 
         if (
-            isinstance(latest_version_position, int)
-            and index == latest_version_position
+                isinstance(latest_version_position, int)
+                and index == latest_version_position
         ):
-
             output_lines.append(new_content)
             output_lines.append("\n")
 
diff --git a/commitizen/cli.py b/commitizen/cli.py
index d582a27a18..2530df103b 100644
--- a/commitizen/cli.py
+++ b/commitizen/cli.py
@@ -109,6 +109,19 @@
                         "action": "store_true",
                         "help": "accept automatically questions done",
                     },
+                    {
+                        "name": "--separate-pre-changelog",
+                        "action": "store_true",
+                        "default": False,
+                        "help": "use a separate changelog for each type of prerelease"
+                    },
+                    {
+                        "name": "--separate-pre-releases",
+                        "action": "store_true",
+                        "default": False,
+                        "help": "changes in the changelog will always relate to the latest "
+                                "release of the same pre-release"
+                    },
                     {
                         "name": "--tag-format",
                         "help": (
@@ -260,7 +273,7 @@
                         "exclusive_group": "group1",
                     },
                 ],
-            },
+            }
         ],
     },
 }
diff --git a/commitizen/commands/changelog.py b/commitizen/commands/changelog.py
index 535632dfc0..2344e8d916 100644
--- a/commitizen/commands/changelog.py
+++ b/commitizen/commands/changelog.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def similar(a, b):
 class Changelog:
     """Generate a changelog based on the commit history."""
 
-    def __init__(self, config: BaseConfig, args):
+    def __init__(self, config: BaseConfig, args: dict):
         if not git.is_git_project():
             raise NotAGitProjectError()
 
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ def __init__(self, config: BaseConfig, args):
         )
         self.dry_run = args["dry_run"]
         self.unreleased_version = args["unreleased_version"]
+        self.separate_pre_releases = args["separate_pre_releases"]
+        self.separate_pre_changelog = args["separate_pre_changelog"]
+        self.pre_release = args["prerelease"]
+        if self.separate_pre_changelog:
+            self.separate_pre_releases = True
+            self.file_name = f"{self.file_name}-${self.pre_release}"
         self.change_type_map = (
             self.config.settings.get("change_type_map") or self.cz.change_type_map
         )
@@ -94,7 +100,10 @@ def __call__(self):
             tags = []
 
         if self.incremental:
-            changelog_meta = changelog.get_metadata(self.file_name)
+            pr_filter = None
+            if self.separate_pre_releases:
+                pr_filter = self.pre_release
+            changelog_meta = changelog.get_metadata(self.file_name, pr_filter)
             latest_version = changelog_meta.get("latest_version")
             if latest_version:
                 start_rev = self._find_incremental_rev(latest_version, tags)
diff --git a/commitizen/defaults.py b/commitizen/defaults.py
index e460bbd6f7..d269c06b96 100644
--- a/commitizen/defaults.py
+++ b/commitizen/defaults.py
@@ -45,3 +45,4 @@
 
 commit_parser = r"^(?P<change_type>feat|fix|refactor|perf|BREAKING CHANGE)(?:\((?P<scope>[^()\r\n]*)\)|\()?(?P<breaking>!)?:\s(?P<message>.*)?"  # noqa
 version_parser = r"(?P<version>([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)(?:-([0-9A-Za-z-]+(?:\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*))?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z-]+)?(\w+)?)"
+stable_parser = r"^([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)\.([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)\.([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)$"