diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/common/version.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/common/version.go
index 15bd2d01bcbc..1513ee97df9b 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/common/version.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/common/version.go
@@ -16,5 +16,27 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 package common
 
-// VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion is the version of VPA.
-const VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion = "1.2.0"
+// gitCommit is the commit used to build the VPA binaries, if available.
+// It is injected at build time.
+var gitCommit = ""
+
+// versionCore is the version of VPA.
+const versionCore = "1.2.0"
+
+// VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion returns the version of the VPA.
+func VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion() string {
+	v := versionCore
+	if gitCommit != "" {
+		// NOTE: use 14 character short hash, like Kubernetes
+		v += "+" + truncate(gitCommit, 14)
+	}
+
+	return v
+}
+
+func truncate(s string, maxLen int) string {
+	if len(s) < maxLen {
+		return s
+	}
+	return s[:maxLen]
+}
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/hack/dev-deploy-locally.sh b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/hack/dev-deploy-locally.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..40ed85b983a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/hack/dev-deploy-locally.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2025 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed 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.
+
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_ROOT=$(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE})/..
+
+SUITE=full-vpa
+REQUIRED_COMMANDS="
+docker
+git
+go
+kubectl
+make
+"
+
+for i in $REQUIRED_COMMANDS; do
+  if ! command -v $i > /dev/null 2>&1
+  then
+    echo "$i could not be found, please ensure it is installed"
+    echo
+    echo "The following commands are required to run these tests:"
+    echo $REQUIRED_COMMANDS
+    exit 1;
+  fi
+done
+
+if ! docker ps >/dev/null 2>&1
+then
+  echo "docker isn't running"
+  echo
+  echo "Please ensure that docker is running"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! kubectl version >/dev/null 2>&1
+then
+  echo "Kubernetes isn't running"
+  echo
+  echo "Please ensure that Kubernetes is running"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null)
+COMMIT=${COMMIT:0:14}
+export BUILD_LD_FLAGS="-s -X=k8s.io/autoscaler/vertical-pod-autoscaler/common.gitCommit=$COMMIT"
+export TAG=$COMMIT
+
+
+echo " ** Deploying building and deploying all VPA components"
+${SCRIPT_ROOT}/hack/deploy-for-e2e-locally.sh full-vpa
+
+echo " ** Restarting all VPA components"
+for i in admission-controller updater recommender; do
+  kubectl -n kube-system rollout restart deployment/vpa-$i
+done
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Dockerfile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Dockerfile
index 57a1f9a2dda7..28f7bde7e29c 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Dockerfile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Dockerfile
@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ COPY common common
 COPY pkg pkg
 
 ARG TARGETOS TARGETARCH
+ARG BUILD_LD_FLAGS="-s"
 
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 LD_FLAGS=-s GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/admission-controller -o admission-controller-$TARGETARCH
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/admission-controller -ldflags="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -o admission-controller-$TARGETARCH
 
 FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot
 
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Makefile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Makefile
index 444aacf1e79f..999b37663bd2 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Makefile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/Makefile
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ GOOS?=linux
 COMPONENT=admission-controller
 FULL_COMPONENT=vpa-${COMPONENT}
 
+BUILD_LD_FLAGS?=-s
 ALL_ARCHITECTURES?=amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x
 export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
 
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ ifndef TAG
 	ERR = $(error TAG is undefined)
 	$(ERR)
 endif
-	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
+	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* --build-arg BUILD_LD_FLAGS="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
 
 .PHONY: docker-push
 docker-push: $(addprefix do-push-,$(ALL_ARCHITECTURES)) push-multi-arch;
@@ -91,4 +92,4 @@ format:
 
 .PHONY: document-flags
 document-flags:
-	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-admission-flags.md
\ No newline at end of file
+	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-admission-flags.md
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/main.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/main.go
index 522138c557f3..b292b4f5977c 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/main.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/admission-controller/main.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func main() {
 	klog.InitFlags(nil)
 	common.InitLoggingFlags()
 	kube_flag.InitFlags()
-	klog.V(1).InfoS("Starting Vertical Pod Autoscaler Admission Controller", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion)
+	klog.V(1).InfoS("Starting Vertical Pod Autoscaler Admission Controller", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion())
 
 	if len(commonFlags.VpaObjectNamespace) > 0 && len(commonFlags.IgnoredVpaObjectNamespaces) > 0 {
 		klog.ErrorS(nil, "--vpa-object-namespace and --ignored-vpa-object-namespaces are mutually exclusive and can't be set together.")
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Dockerfile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Dockerfile
index cdf7921d5589..ed6fe8637fa0 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Dockerfile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Dockerfile
@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ COPY common common
 COPY pkg pkg
 
 ARG TARGETOS TARGETARCH
+ARG BUILD_LD_FLAGS="-s"
 
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 LD_FLAGS=-s GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/recommender -o recommender-$TARGETARCH
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/recommender -ldflags="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -o recommender-$TARGETARCH
 
 FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot
 
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Makefile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Makefile
index e6d06a008e90..3c64ca4ff422 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Makefile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/Makefile
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ FULL_COMPONENT=vpa-${COMPONENT}
 # localhost registries need --insecure for some docker commands.
 INSECURE=$(subst localhost,--insecure,$(findstring localhost,$(REGISTRY)))
 
+BUILD_LD_FLAGS?=-s
 ALL_ARCHITECTURES?=amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x
 export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
 
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ ifndef TAG
 	ERR = $(error TAG is undefined)
 	$(ERR)
 endif
-	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
+	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* --build-arg BUILD_LD_FLAGS="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
 
 .PHONY: docker-push
 docker-push: $(addprefix do-push-,$(ALL_ARCHITECTURES)) push-multi-arch;
@@ -93,4 +94,4 @@ format:
 
 .PHONY: document-flags
 document-flags:
-	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-recommender-flags.md
\ No newline at end of file
+	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-recommender-flags.md
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/main.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/main.go
index bfc7c21aa489..d59685fd3aee 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/main.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/recommender/main.go
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func main() {
 	componentbaseoptions.BindLeaderElectionFlags(&leaderElection, pflag.CommandLine)
 
 	kube_flag.InitFlags()
-	klog.V(1).InfoS("Vertical Pod Autoscaler Recommender", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion, "recommenderName", *recommenderName)
+	klog.V(1).InfoS("Vertical Pod Autoscaler Recommender", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion(), "recommenderName", *recommenderName)
 
 	if len(commonFlags.VpaObjectNamespace) > 0 && len(commonFlags.IgnoredVpaObjectNamespaces) > 0 {
 		klog.ErrorS(nil, "--vpa-object-namespace and --ignored-vpa-object-namespaces are mutually exclusive and can't be set together.")
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Dockerfile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Dockerfile
index cf03102f95d2..54dd14506eeb 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Dockerfile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Dockerfile
@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ COPY common common
 COPY pkg pkg
 
 ARG TARGETOS TARGETARCH
+ARG BUILD_LD_FLAGS="-s"
 
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 LD_FLAGS=-s GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/updater -o updater-$TARGETARCH
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 LD_FLAGS=-s GOARCH=$TARGETARCH GOOS=$TARGETOS go build -C pkg/updater -ldflags="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -o updater-$TARGETARCH
 
 FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot
 
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Makefile b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Makefile
index ae9b1f78ec69..517e95685421 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Makefile
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/Makefile
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ GOOS?=linux
 COMPONENT=updater
 FULL_COMPONENT=vpa-${COMPONENT}
 
+BUILD_LD_FLAGS?=-s
 ALL_ARCHITECTURES?=amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x
 export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
 
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ ifndef TAG
 	ERR = $(error TAG is undefined)
 	$(ERR)
 endif
-	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
+	docker buildx build --pull --load --platform linux/$* --build-arg BUILD_LD_FLAGS="${BUILD_LD_FLAGS}" -t ${REGISTRY}/${FULL_COMPONENT}-$*:${TAG} -f ./Dockerfile ../../
 
 .PHONY: docker-push
 docker-push: $(addprefix do-push-,$(ALL_ARCHITECTURES)) push-multi-arch;
@@ -91,4 +92,4 @@ format:
 
 .PHONY: document-flags
 document-flags:
-	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-updater-flags.md
\ No newline at end of file
+	go run ../../hack/vpa-generate-flags.go . ../../docs/vpa-updater-flags.md
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/main.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/main.go
index 52f03b3ad415..4a183b95cd5c 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/main.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/updater/main.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func main() {
 	componentbaseoptions.BindLeaderElectionFlags(&leaderElection, pflag.CommandLine)
 
 	kube_flag.InitFlags()
-	klog.V(1).InfoS("Vertical Pod Autoscaler Updater", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion)
+	klog.V(1).InfoS("Vertical Pod Autoscaler Updater", "version", common.VerticalPodAutoscalerVersion())
 
 	if len(commonFlags.VpaObjectNamespace) > 0 && len(commonFlags.IgnoredVpaObjectNamespaces) > 0 {
 		klog.ErrorS(nil, "--vpa-object-namespace and --ignored-vpa-object-namespaces are mutually exclusive and can't be set together.")