diff --git a/asv_bench/asv.conf.json b/asv_bench/asv.conf.json
index 9b0dc14fe6747..d286e57ce6b51 100644
--- a/asv_bench/asv.conf.json
+++ b/asv_bench/asv.conf.json
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@
     // pip (with all the conda available packages installed first,
     // followed by the pip installed packages).
     "matrix": {
-        "Cython": ["3.0.5"],
+        "pip+build": [],
+        "Cython": [],
         "matplotlib": [],
         "sqlalchemy": [],
         "scipy": [],
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-310-minimum_versions.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-310-minimum_versions.yaml
index cac0814acfbd5..ddbe4dc92e2ce 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-310-minimum_versions.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-310-minimum_versions.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
index 0572091d88cd9..2a9b34f2b3cca 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-310.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
index f7e9ad045ed04..75adef730cc06 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-downstream_compat.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
index d714e99c765e7..b6c057523bc23 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-numpydev.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
   - versioneer
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
 
   # test dependencies
   - pytest>=7.3.2
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
index 40b936472d409..9882253d2b783 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311-pyarrownightly.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dependencies:
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
   - meson=1.2.1
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
   # test dependencies
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
index db89be7780bf0..9aff327c75a2a 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-311.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-312.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-312.yaml
index 4d690501571a7..ed18d32aa2314 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-312.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-312.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml b/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
index ba518312df24c..412933daacde4 100644
--- a/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
+++ b/ci/deps/actions-pypy-39.yaml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython>=0.29.33
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index d5d6c329dae8a..2d7740edf453f 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # build dependencies
   - versioneer
-  - cython=3.0.5
+  - cython<4.0.0a0
   - meson=1.2.1
   - meson-python=0.13.1
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9f2c7c0c56295..80f02b64cd329 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ requires = [
     "meson-python>=0.13.1",
     "meson>=1.2.1,<2",
     "wheel",
-    "Cython~=3.0.5",  # Note: sync with setup.py, environment.yml and asv.conf.json
-    # Force numpy higher than 2.0, so that built wheels are compatible
+    "Cython<4.0.0a0",  # Note: sync with setup.py, environment.yml and asv.conf.json
+    # Force numpy higher than 2.0rc1, so that built wheels are compatible
     # with both numpy 1 and 2
     "numpy>=2.0",
     "versioneer[toml]"
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index 712b5e01257ff..57690b38cf6ee 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 pip
 versioneer[toml]
-cython==3.0.5
+cython<4.0.0a0
 meson[ninja]==1.2.1
 meson-python==0.13.1
 pytest>=7.3.2