diff --git a/docs/source/_static/versionwarning.js b/docs/source/_static/versionwarning.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a9bea99affaaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/_static/versionwarning.js
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+(function() {
+    // adapted 2022-11 from https://mne.tools/versionwarning.js
+    if (location.hostname == 'arrow.apache.org') {
+        $.getJSON("https://arrow.apache.org/docs/_static/versions.json", function(data){
+            var latestStable = data[1].name.replace(" (stable)","");
+            // HTML tags
+            var pre = '<div class="container-fluid alert-danger devbar"><div class="row no-gutters"><div class="col-12 text-center">';
+            var post = '</div></div></div>';
+            var anchor = 'class="btn btn-danger font-weight-bold ml-3 my-3 align-baseline"';
+            // Switch button message
+            var switch_dev = `Switch to unstable development release version`;
+            var switch_stable = `latest stable release (version ${latestStable})`;
+            // Path of the page
+            var location_array = location.pathname.split('/');
+            var versionPath = location_array[2];
+            var subPath = location_array[3];
+            var filePath = location_array.slice(3).join('/');
+            // Links to stable or dev versions
+            var uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+            var uri_stable = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/${filePath}`;
+
+            if (versionPath == 'developers') {
+                // developers section in the stable version
+                filePath = location_array.slice(2).join('/');
+                uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+                $.ajax({
+                    type: 'HEAD',
+                    url: `${uri_dev}`,
+                    error: function() {
+                        filePath = '';
+                        uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+                    },
+                    complete: function() {
+                        var showWarning = `${pre}This is documentation for the stable version ` +
+                                        `of Apache Arrow (version ${latestStable}). For latest development practices: ` +
+                                        `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_dev}>${switch_dev}</a>${post}`
+                        $('.container-fluid').prepend(`${showWarning}`)
+                    }
+                });
+            } else if (versionPath.match(/^\d/) < "4") {
+                // old versions 1.0,. 2.0 or 3.0
+                $.ajax({
+                    type: 'HEAD',
+                    url: `${uri_stable}`,
+                    error: function() {
+                        filePath = '';
+                        uri_stable = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/${filePath}`;
+                    },
+                    complete: function() {
+                        $.ajax({
+                            type: 'HEAD',
+                            url: `${uri_dev}`,
+                            error: function() {
+                                filePath = '';
+                                uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+                            },
+                            complete: function() {
+                                pre = '<p style="padding: 1em;font-size: 1em;border: 1px solid red;background: pink;">';
+                                post = '</p>';
+                                anchor = 'class="btn btn-danger" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline;' +
+                                        'margin: 0.5rem; border-style: solid; border-color: white;"';
+                                var showWarning = `${pre}This is documentation for an old release of ` +
+                                                `Apache Arrow (version ${versionPath}). Try the` +
+                                                `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_stable}>${switch_stable}</a> or` +
+                                                `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_dev}>development (unstable) version. </a>${post}`
+                                $('.document').prepend(`${showWarning}`)
+                            }
+                        });
+                    }
+                });
+            } else if (versionPath.match(/^\d/) && subPath == 'developers') {
+                // older versions of developers section (with numbered version in the URL)
+                $.ajax({
+                    type: 'HEAD',
+                    url: `${uri_dev}`,
+                    error: function() {
+                        filePath = '';
+                        uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+                    },
+                    complete: function() {
+                        var showWarning = `${pre}This is documentation for an old release of Apache Arrow ` +
+                                        `(version ${versionPath}). For latest development practices: ` +
+                                        `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_dev}>${switch_dev} </a>${post}`
+                        $('.container-fluid').prepend(`${showWarning}`)
+                    }
+                });
+            } else if (versionPath.match(/^\d/)) {
+                // older versions (with numbered version in the URL)
+                $.ajax({
+                    type: 'HEAD',
+                    url: `${uri_stable}`,
+                    error: function() {
+                        filePath = '';
+                        uri_stable = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/${filePath}`;
+                    },
+                    complete: function() {
+                        $.ajax({
+                            type: 'HEAD',
+                            url: `${uri_dev}`,
+                            error: function() {
+                                filePath = '';
+                                uri_dev = `https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/${filePath}`;
+                            },
+                            complete: function() {
+                                var showWarning = `${pre}This is documentation for an old release of ` +
+                                                `Apache Arrow (version ${versionPath}). Try the` +
+                                                `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_stable}>${switch_stable}</a> or` +
+                                                `<a ${anchor} href=${uri_dev}>development (unstable) version. </a>${post}`
+                                $('.container-fluid').prepend(`${showWarning}`)
+                            }
+                        });
+                    }
+                });
+            }
+        });
+    }
+})()
diff --git a/docs/source/_templates/layout.html b/docs/source/_templates/layout.html
index ceadc26be9fdf..ca39e8e5a8fae 100644
--- a/docs/source/_templates/layout.html
+++ b/docs/source/_templates/layout.html
@@ -26,3 +26,9 @@
 {# Silence the navbar #}
 {% block docs_navbar %}
 {% endblock %}
+
+{# Add version warnings #}
+{% block footer %}
+  {{ super() }}
+  <script type="text/javascript" src="/docs/_static/versionwarning.js"></script>
+{% endblock %}