diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.0.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.0.0.rst
index cd012fe755337..b36d4b230573e 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.0.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.0.0.rst
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@ Categorical
 - Using date accessors on a categorical dtyped :class:`Series` of datetimes was not returning an object of the
   same type as if one used the :meth:`.str.` / :meth:`.dt.` on a :class:`Series` of that type. E.g. when accessing :meth:`Series.dt.tz_localize` on a
   :class:`Categorical` with duplicate entries, the accessor was skipping duplicates (:issue: `27952`)
+- Bug in :meth:`DataFrame.replace` and :meth:`Series.replace` that would give incorrect results on categorical data (:issue:`26988`)
 
 
 Datetimelike
diff --git a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
index 73d1db9bda8ed..4e3724ea58777 100644
--- a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
+++ b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
@@ -2471,6 +2471,51 @@ def isin(self, values):
         code_values = code_values[null_mask | (code_values >= 0)]
         return algorithms.isin(self.codes, code_values)
 
+    def replace(self, to_replace, value, inplace: bool = False):
+        """
+        Replaces all instances of one value with another
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        to_replace: object
+            The value to be replaced
+
+        value: object
+            The value to replace it with
+
+        inplace: bool
+            Whether the operation is done in-place
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        None if inplace is True, otherwise the new Categorical after replacement
+
+
+        Examples
+        --------
+        >>> s = pd.Categorical([1, 2, 1, 3])
+        >>> s.replace(1, 3)
+        [3, 3, 2, 3]
+        Categories (2, int64): [2, 3]
+        """
+        inplace = validate_bool_kwarg(inplace, "inplace")
+        cat = self if inplace else self.copy()
+        if to_replace in cat.categories:
+            if isna(value):
+                cat.remove_categories(to_replace, inplace=True)
+            else:
+                categories = cat.categories.tolist()
+                index = categories.index(to_replace)
+                if value in cat.categories:
+                    value_index = categories.index(value)
+                    cat._codes[cat._codes == index] = value_index
+                    cat.remove_categories(to_replace, inplace=True)
+                else:
+                    categories[index] = value
+                    cat.rename_categories(categories, inplace=True)
+        if not inplace:
+            return cat
+
 
 # The Series.cat accessor
 
diff --git a/pandas/core/internals/blocks.py b/pandas/core/internals/blocks.py
index 5508cf3ca522e..38e80525b3d13 100644
--- a/pandas/core/internals/blocks.py
+++ b/pandas/core/internals/blocks.py
@@ -2924,6 +2924,30 @@ def where(
             )
         return result
 
+    def replace(
+        self,
+        to_replace,
+        value,
+        inplace: bool = False,
+        filter=None,
+        regex: bool = False,
+        convert: bool = True,
+    ):
+        inplace = validate_bool_kwarg(inplace, "inplace")
+        result = self if inplace else self.copy()
+        if filter is None:  # replace was called on a series
+            result.values.replace(to_replace, value, inplace=True)
+            if convert:
+                return result.convert(numeric=False, copy=not inplace)
+            else:
+                return result
+        else:  # replace was called on a DataFrame
+            if not isna(value):
+                result.values.add_categories(value, inplace=True)
+            return super(CategoricalBlock, result).replace(
+                to_replace, value, inplace, filter, regex, convert
+            )
+
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 # Constructor Helpers
diff --git a/pandas/tests/arrays/categorical/test_algos.py b/pandas/tests/arrays/categorical/test_algos.py
index 1a48ccf85f947..e076015c5f61d 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/arrays/categorical/test_algos.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/arrays/categorical/test_algos.py
@@ -59,6 +59,24 @@ def test_isin_cats():
     tm.assert_numpy_array_equal(expected, result)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "to_replace, value, result",
+    [("b", "c", ["a", "c"]), ("c", "d", ["a", "b"]), ("b", None, ["a", None])],
+)
+def test_replace(to_replace, value, result):
+    # GH 26988
+    cat = pd.Categorical(["a", "b"])
+    expected = pd.Categorical(result)
+    result = cat.replace(to_replace, value)
+    tm.assert_categorical_equal(result, expected)
+    if to_replace == "b":  # the "c" test is supposed to be unchanged
+        with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+            # ensure non-inplace call does not affect original
+            tm.assert_categorical_equal(cat, expected)
+    cat.replace(to_replace, value, inplace=True)
+    tm.assert_categorical_equal(cat, expected)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("empty", [[], pd.Series(), np.array([])])
 def test_isin_empty(empty):
     s = pd.Categorical(["a", "b"])
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/test_replace.py b/pandas/tests/frame/test_replace.py
index c30efa121262f..60b601b57e007 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/test_replace.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/test_replace.py
@@ -1296,6 +1296,24 @@ def test_replace_method(self, to_replace, method, expected):
         expected = DataFrame(expected)
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
 
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "replace_dict, final_data",
+        [({"a": 1, "b": 1}, [[3, 3], [2, 2]]), ({"a": 1, "b": 2}, [[3, 1], [2, 3]])],
+    )
+    def test_categorical_replace_with_dict(self, replace_dict, final_data):
+        # GH 26988
+        df = DataFrame([[1, 1], [2, 2]], columns=["a", "b"], dtype="category")
+        expected = DataFrame(final_data, columns=["a", "b"], dtype="category")
+        expected["a"] = expected["a"].cat.set_categories([1, 2, 3])
+        expected["b"] = expected["b"].cat.set_categories([1, 2, 3])
+        result = df.replace(replace_dict, 3)
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+        with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+            # ensure non-inplace call does not affect original
+            tm.assert_frame_equal(df, expected)
+        df.replace(replace_dict, 3, inplace=True)
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(df, expected)
+
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "df, to_replace, exp",
         [
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_replace.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_replace.py
index ebfd468e034f9..8018ecf03960c 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_replace.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_replace.py
@@ -293,6 +293,29 @@ def test_replace_categorical(self, categorical, numeric):
         expected = pd.Series(numeric)
         tm.assert_series_equal(expected, result, check_dtype=False)
 
+    def test_replace_categorical_single(self):
+        # GH 26988
+        dti = pd.date_range("2016-01-01", periods=3, tz="US/Pacific")
+        s = pd.Series(dti)
+        c = s.astype("category")
+
+        expected = c.copy()
+        expected = expected.cat.add_categories("foo")
+        expected[2] = "foo"
+        expected = expected.cat.remove_unused_categories()
+        assert c[2] != "foo"
+
+        result = c.replace(c[2], "foo")
+        tm.assert_series_equal(expected, result)
+        assert c[2] != "foo"  # ensure non-inplace call does not alter original
+
+        c.replace(c[2], "foo", inplace=True)
+        tm.assert_series_equal(expected, c)
+
+        first_value = c[0]
+        c.replace(c[1], c[0], inplace=True)
+        assert c[0] == c[1] == first_value  # test replacing with existing value
+
     def test_replace_with_no_overflowerror(self):
         # GH 25616
         # casts to object without Exception from OverflowError