diff --git a/clients/qbittorrent.py b/clients/qbittorrent.py
index 0068954..5a26577 100644
--- a/clients/qbittorrent.py
+++ b/clients/qbittorrent.py
@@ -24,8 +24,13 @@ def __init__(self, config: SpeedrrConfig, config_client: ClientConfig) -> None:
         try:
             self._client.auth_log_in()
         
-        except qbittorrentapi.LoginFailed:
-            raise Exception(f"<qbit|{self._client_config.url}> Failed to login to qBittorrent, check your credentials")
+        except qbittorrentapi.LoginFailed as exc:
+            raise Exception(
+                f"<qbit|{self._client_config.url}> Failed to login to "
+                f"qBittorrent. Check your credentials and ensure "
+                f"qbittorrent-api>=2026.5.1 is installed for "
+                f"qBittorrent 5.x compatibility"
+            ) from exc
         
         except qbittorrentapi.Forbidden403Error:
             raise Exception(f"<qbit|{self._client_config.url}> Failed to login to qBittorrent, temporarily banned, try again later")
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index dd57eb1..bd830ab 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 dataclass_wizard
 PyYAML
-qbittorrent-api
+qbittorrent-api==2026.5.1
 transmission-rpc
 httpx
-colorama
\ No newline at end of file
+colorama