diff --git a/playbooks/devstack-tempest-ipv6.yaml b/playbooks/devstack-tempest-ipv6.yaml
index d56fb73567..568077e20c 100644
--- a/playbooks/devstack-tempest-ipv6.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/devstack-tempest-ipv6.yaml
@@ -16,4 +16,17 @@
     # address is IPv6 etc. This is invoked before tests are run so that we can
     # fail early if anything missing the IPv6 settings or deployments.
     - devstack-ipv6-only-deployments-verification
-    - run-tempest
+  tasks:
+    - name: Run Tempest version <= 26.0.0
+      include_role:
+        name: run-tempest-26
+      when:
+        - zuul.branch is defined
+        - zuul.branch in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"]
+
+    - name: Run Tempest
+      include_role:
+        name: run-tempest
+      when:
+        - zuul.branch is defined
+        - zuul.branch not in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"]
diff --git a/playbooks/devstack-tempest.yaml b/playbooks/devstack-tempest.yaml
index 3b969f2946..269999c7c8 100644
--- a/playbooks/devstack-tempest.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/devstack-tempest.yaml
@@ -29,9 +29,17 @@
             (run_tempest_cleanup is defined and run_tempest_cleanup | bool) or
             (run_tempest_fail_if_leaked_resources is defined and run_tempest_fail_if_leaked_resources | bool)
 
+    - name: Run Tempest version <= 26.0.0
+      include_role:
+        name: run-tempest-26
+      when: (zuul.branch is defined and zuul.branch in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"]) or
+            (zuul.override_checkout is defined and zuul.override_checkout in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"])
+
     - name: Run Tempest
       include_role:
         name: run-tempest
+      when: (zuul.branch is defined and zuul.branch not in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"] and zuul.override_checkout is not defined) or
+            (zuul.override_checkout is defined and zuul.override_checkout not in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky", "stable/stein"])
 
     - name: Run tempest cleanup dry-run
       include_role:
diff --git a/roles/run-tempest-26/README.rst b/roles/run-tempest-26/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3643edb4e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/run-tempest-26/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+Run Tempest
+
+The result of the tempest run is stored in the `tempest_run_result`
+variable (through the `register` statement).
+
+**Role Variables**
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: devstack_base_dir
+   :default: /opt/stack
+
+   The devstack base directory.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_concurrency
+   :default: 0
+
+   The number of parallel test processes.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_test_regex
+   :default: ''
+
+   A regular expression used to select the tests.
+
+   It works only when used with some specific tox environments
+   ('all', 'all-plugin'.)
+
+   In the following example only api scenario and third party tests
+   will be executed.
+
+       ::
+           vars:
+             tempest_test_regex: (tempest\.(api|scenario|thirdparty)).*$
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_test_blacklist
+
+   Specifies a blacklist file to skip tests that are not needed.
+
+   Pass a full path to the file.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tox_envlist
+   :default: smoke
+
+   The Tempest tox environment to run.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_black_regex
+   :default: ''
+
+   A regular expression used to skip the tests.
+
+   It works only when used with some specific tox environments
+   ('all', 'all-plugin'.)
+
+       ::
+           vars:
+             tempest_black_regex: (tempest.api.identity).*$
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tox_extra_args
+   :default: ''
+
+   String of extra command line options to pass to tox.
+
+   Here is an example of running tox with --sitepackages option:
+
+       ::
+           vars:
+             tox_extra_args: --sitepackages
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_test_timeout
+   :default: ''
+
+   The timeout (in seconds) for each test.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: stable_constraints_file
+   :default: ''
+
+   Upper constraints file to be used for stable branch till stable/rocky.
+
+.. zuul:rolevar:: tempest_tox_environment
+   :default: ''
+
+   Environment variable to set for run-tempst task.
+
+   Env variables set in this variable will be combined with some more
+   defaults env variable set at runtime.
diff --git a/roles/run-tempest-26/defaults/main.yaml b/roles/run-tempest-26/defaults/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cbac76d2c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/run-tempest-26/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+devstack_base_dir: /opt/stack
+tempest_test_regex: ''
+tox_envlist: smoke
+tempest_black_regex: ''
+tox_extra_args: ''
+tempest_test_timeout: ''
+stable_constraints_file: "{{ devstack_base_dir }}/requirements/upper-constraints.txt"
+target_branch: "{{ zuul.branch }}"
+tempest_tox_environment: {}
+# NOTE(gmann): external_bridge_mtu shows as undefined for run-tempest role
+# defining default value here to avoid that error.
+external_bridge_mtu: 0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/roles/run-tempest-26/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/run-tempest-26/tasks/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b197856221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/run-tempest-26/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# NOTE(andreaf) The number of vcpus is not available on all systems.
+# See https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/30688
+# When not available, we fall back to ansible_processor_cores
+- name: Get hw.logicalcpu from sysctl
+  shell: sysctl hw.logicalcpu | cut -d' ' -f2
+  register: sysctl_hw_logicalcpu
+  when: ansible_processor_vcpus is not defined
+
+- name: Number of cores
+  set_fact:
+    num_cores: "{{ansible_processor_vcpus|default(sysctl_hw_logicalcpu.stdout)}}"
+
+- name: Set concurrency for cores == 3 or less
+  set_fact:
+    default_concurrency: "{{ num_cores }}"
+  when: num_cores|int <= 3
+
+- name: Limit max concurrency when more than 3 vcpus are available
+  set_fact:
+    default_concurrency: "{{ num_cores|int // 2 }}"
+  when: num_cores|int > 3
+
+- name: Override target branch
+  set_fact:
+    target_branch: "{{ zuul.override_checkout }}"
+  when: zuul.override_checkout is defined
+
+- name: Use stable branch upper-constraints till stable/stein
+  set_fact:
+    # TOX_CONSTRAINTS_FILE is new name, UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE is old one, best to set both
+    tempest_tox_environment: "{{ tempest_tox_environment | combine({'UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE': stable_constraints_file}) | combine({'TOX_CONSTRAINTS_FILE': stable_constraints_file}) }}"
+  when: target_branch in ["stable/ocata", "stable/pike", "stable/queens", "stable/rocky"]
+
+- name: Use Configured upper-constraints for non-master Tempest
+  set_fact:
+    # TOX_CONSTRAINTS_FILE is new name, UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE is old one, best to set both
+    tempest_tox_environment: "{{ tempest_tox_environment | combine({'UPPER_CONSTRAINTS_FILE': devstack_localrc['TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS']}) | combine({'TOX_CONSTRAINTS_FILE': devstack_localrc['TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS']}) }}"
+  when:
+    - devstack_localrc is defined
+    - "'TEMPEST_BRANCH' in devstack_localrc"
+    - "'TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS' in devstack_localrc"
+    - devstack_localrc['TEMPEST_BRANCH'] != 'master'
+    - devstack_localrc['TEMPEST_VENV_UPPER_CONSTRAINTS'] != 'default'
+
+- name: Set OS_TEST_TIMEOUT if requested
+  set_fact:
+    tempest_tox_environment: "{{ tempest_tox_environment | combine({'OS_TEST_TIMEOUT': tempest_test_timeout}) }}"
+  when: tempest_test_timeout != ''
+
+- when:
+    - tempest_test_blacklist is defined
+  block:
+    - name: Check for test blacklist file
+      stat:
+        path: "{{ tempest_test_blacklist }}"
+      register:
+        blacklist_stat
+
+    - name: Build blacklist option
+      set_fact:
+        blacklist_option: "--blacklist-file={{ tempest_test_blacklist|quote }}"
+      when: blacklist_stat.stat.exists
+
+- name: Run Tempest
+  command: tox -e {{tox_envlist}} {{tox_extra_args}} -- {{tempest_test_regex|quote}} {{blacklist_option|default('')}} \
+            --concurrency={{tempest_concurrency|default(default_concurrency)}} \
+            --black-regex={{tempest_black_regex|quote}}
+  args:
+    chdir: "{{devstack_base_dir}}/tempest"
+  register: tempest_run_result
+  become: true
+  become_user: tempest
+  environment: "{{ tempest_tox_environment }}"