diff --git a/.changeset/modern-cats-double.md b/.changeset/modern-cats-double.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c5681aaad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/modern-cats-double.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/create-app': patch
+---
+
+Bump `better-sqlite3` to the latest version
diff --git a/packages/create-app/templates/next-app/packages/backend/package.json.hbs b/packages/create-app/templates/next-app/packages/backend/package.json.hbs
index 483c0b7a4e..518683ffd7 100644
--- a/packages/create-app/templates/next-app/packages/backend/package.json.hbs
+++ b/packages/create-app/templates/next-app/packages/backend/package.json.hbs
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
     "@backstage/plugin-signals-backend": "^{{version '@backstage/plugin-signals-backend'}}",
     "@backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend": "^{{version '@backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend'}}",
     "app": "link:../app",
-    "better-sqlite3": "^9.0.0",
+    "better-sqlite3": "^12.0.0",
     "node-gyp": "^10.0.0",
     "pg": "^8.11.3"
   },