diff --git a/bin/plotting/pycbc_plot_singles_vs_params b/bin/plotting/pycbc_plot_singles_vs_params
index 33475af08ba..98def36df48 100644
--- a/bin/plotting/pycbc_plot_singles_vs_params
+++ b/bin/plotting/pycbc_plot_singles_vs_params
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ from matplotlib.colors import LogNorm
 from matplotlib.ticker import LogLocator
 import h5py
 import sys
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 import pycbc
 import pycbc.pnutils
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ hexbin_style = {
 
 # In earlier versions mpl will try to take the max over bins with 0 triggers
 # and fail, unless we tell it to leave these blank by setting mincnt
-if matplotlib.__version__ < '3.8.1':
+if Version(matplotlib.__version__) < Version('3.8.1'):
     hexbin_style['mincnt'] = 0
 
 if opts.log_x:
@@ -175,7 +176,6 @@ elif opts.z_var in ranking.sngls_ranking_function_dict:
     max_z = z.max() if opts.max_z is None else opts.max_z
     if max_z / min_z > 10:
         cb_style['ticks'] = LogLocator(subs=range(10))
-    print(z)
     hb = ax.hexbin(x, y, C=z, reduce_C_function=np.max, **hexbin_style)
     fig.colorbar(hb, **cb_style)
 else: