diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ca040e5f..c7c6c910 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ### Removed
 
+## [1.18.1](https://pypi.org/project/model-bakery/1.18.1/)
+
+### Changed
+- Replace expensive `count()` with cheap `exists()`
+
 ## [1.18.0](https://pypi.org/project/model-bakery/1.18.0/)
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/model_bakery/__about__.py b/model_bakery/__about__.py
index 6cea18d8..4a7bff54 100644
--- a/model_bakery/__about__.py
+++ b/model_bakery/__about__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "1.18.0"
+__version__ = "1.18.1"