diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObject.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObject.ts
index fb1b9f616aeb..33b53c7dd950 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObject.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObject.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import {
   maybeSetUpTunnelRouteRewriteRules,
   resolveReleaseName,
   shouldReturnEarlyInExperimentalBuildMode,
+  warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile,
   warnIfMissingOnRouterTransitionStartHook,
 } from './getFinalConfigObjectUtils';
 
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ export function getFinalConfigObject(
   maybeSetClientTraceMetadataOption(incomingUserNextConfigObject, nextJsVersion, userSentryOptions.silent);
   maybeSetInstrumentationHookOption(incomingUserNextConfigObject, nextJsVersion, userSentryOptions.silent);
   warnIfMissingOnRouterTransitionStartHook(userSentryOptions);
+  warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile(incomingUserNextConfigObject, userSentryOptions);
 
   const bundlerInfo = getBundlerInfo(nextJsVersion);
   maybeWarnAboutUnsupportedTurbopack(nextJsVersion, bundlerInfo, userSentryOptions.silent);
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.ts
index 68520bc1e16d..5f70094efb3c 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { getBuildLogger } from '../buildLogger';
 import { createRouteManifest } from '../manifest/createRouteManifest';
 import type { RouteManifest } from '../manifest/types';
 import type { NextConfigObject, SentryBuildOptions } from '../types';
-import { requiresInstrumentationHook } from '../util';
+import { DEFAULT_PAGE_EXTENSIONS, requiresInstrumentationHook } from '../util';
 import { getGitRevision, getInstrumentationClientFileContents } from './buildTime';
 import {
   findTunnelRouteHandlerFile,
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ let showedUnusedTunnelRouteHandlerWarning = false;
 let showedTunnelRouteHandlerModeLog = false;
 let showedExperimentalBuildModeWarning = false;
 
+const MISPLACED_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING_SHOWN = '__SENTRY_MISPLACED_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING_SHOWN__';
+
 /**
  * Resolves the Sentry release name to use for build-time behavior.
  *
@@ -266,6 +268,48 @@ export function warnIfMissingOnRouterTransitionStartHook(userSentryOptions: Sent
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Warns if the `instrumentation` file is not in the folder that contains the `app` or `pages` directory.
+ * `next build` only looks there, even though dev and Turbopack also find the file in other places.
+ */
+export function warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile(
+  incomingUserNextConfigObject: NextConfigObject,
+  userSentryOptions: SentryBuildOptions,
+): void {
+  if (
+    process.env[MISPLACED_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING_SHOWN] ||
+    process.env.SENTRY_SUPPRESS_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING
+  ) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const projectDir = process.cwd();
+  const exists = (relativePath: string): boolean => fs.existsSync(path.join(projectDir, relativePath));
+
+  // Same lookup as Next.js' `findPagesDir`: `pages` before `app`, and `<name>` before `src/<name>`.
+  const routerDir = ['pages', 'app'].flatMap(name => [name, path.join('src', name)]).find(exists);
+  if (!routerDir) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const loadedDir = path.dirname(routerDir);
+  const ignoredDir = loadedDir === 'src' ? '.' : 'src';
+  const pageExtensions = incomingUserNextConfigObject.pageExtensions ?? DEFAULT_PAGE_EXTENSIONS;
+  const findInstrumentationFile = (dir: string): string | undefined =>
+    pageExtensions.map(extension => path.join(dir, `instrumentation.${extension}`)).find(exists);
+
+  const misplacedFile = findInstrumentationFile(ignoredDir);
+  if (!misplacedFile || findInstrumentationFile(loadedDir)) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  // Next.js may evaluate its config in child processes, which inherit this state from their parent.
+  process.env[MISPLACED_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING_SHOWN] = '1';
+  getBuildLogger(userSentryOptions.silent).warn(
+    `[@sentry/nextjs] Found ${misplacedFile}, but Next.js production builds only pick up the instrumentation file next to your ${routerDir} directory. Move it to ${path.join(loadedDir, path.basename(misplacedFile))}, or the Sentry SDK may not be initialized on the server in production.`,
+  );
+}
+
 /**
  * Parses the major Next.js version number from a semver string.
  */
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/test/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.test.ts b/packages/nextjs/test/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.test.ts
index cfda40eaa28f..d056ea8d1b24 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/test/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.test.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/test/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 import type { NextConfigObject } from '../../../src/config/types';
+import { warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile } from '../../../src/config/withSentryConfig/getFinalConfigObjectUtils';
 import { makeProject, removeProjects } from './projectFixture';
 
 const HANDLER_REWRITE = { source: '/monitoring', destination: '/sentry-tunnel' };
@@ -121,3 +122,104 @@ describe('maybeSetUpTunnelRouteRewriteRules', () => {
     expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 });
+
+describe('warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile', () => {
+  const ROOT_FILE_WITH_SRC_APP = ['src/app/page.tsx', 'instrumentation.ts'];
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+    vi.unstubAllEnvs();
+    vi.stubEnv('__SENTRY_MISPLACED_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING_SHOWN__', undefined);
+  });
+
+  function setUp(files: string[]) {
+    vi.spyOn(process, 'cwd').mockReturnValue(makeProject(files));
+    return vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+  }
+
+  function misplacedFileWarning(found: string, routerDir: string, target: string): string {
+    return `[@sentry/nextjs] Found ${found}, but Next.js production builds only pick up the instrumentation file next to your ${routerDir} directory. Move it to ${target}, or the Sentry SDK may not be initialized on the server in production.`;
+  }
+
+  it.each([
+    {
+      found: 'instrumentation.ts',
+      routerDir: 'src/app',
+      target: 'src/instrumentation.ts',
+      files: ROOT_FILE_WITH_SRC_APP,
+    },
+    {
+      found: 'instrumentation.js',
+      routerDir: 'src/pages',
+      target: 'src/instrumentation.js',
+      files: ['src/pages/index.tsx', 'instrumentation.js'],
+    },
+    {
+      found: 'src/instrumentation.ts',
+      routerDir: 'app',
+      target: 'instrumentation.ts',
+      files: ['app/page.tsx', 'src/lib/db.ts', 'src/instrumentation.ts'],
+    },
+  ])('warns about $found in a project with $routerDir', ({ found, routerDir, target, files }) => {
+    const warnSpy = setUp(files);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, {});
+
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(misplacedFileWarning(found, routerDir, target));
+  });
+
+  it('looks for the file with the configured `pageExtensions`', () => {
+    const warnSpy = setUp(['src/app/page.page.tsx', 'instrumentation.page.ts']);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({ pageExtensions: ['page.tsx', 'page.ts'] }, {});
+
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      misplacedFileWarning('instrumentation.page.ts', 'src/app', 'src/instrumentation.page.ts'),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('warns only once', () => {
+    const warnSpy = setUp(ROOT_FILE_WITH_SRC_APP);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, {});
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, {});
+
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    ['the file is next to `src/app`', ['src/app/page.tsx', 'src/instrumentation.ts']],
+    ['the file is next to `app`', ['app/page.tsx', 'instrumentation.ts']],
+    ['a file is in both folders', ['src/app/page.tsx', 'src/instrumentation.ts', 'instrumentation.ts']],
+    [
+      'a root `pages` directory takes precedence over `src/app`',
+      ['pages/index.tsx', 'src/app/page.tsx', 'instrumentation.ts'],
+    ],
+    ['the project has no `app` or `pages` directory', ['instrumentation.ts']],
+  ])('does not warn when %s', (_setup, files) => {
+    const warnSpy = setUp(files);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, {});
+
+    expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('does not warn with `silent`', () => {
+    const warnSpy = setUp(ROOT_FILE_WITH_SRC_APP);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, { silent: true });
+
+    expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('does not warn when SENTRY_SUPPRESS_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING is set', () => {
+    vi.stubEnv('SENTRY_SUPPRESS_INSTRUMENTATION_FILE_WARNING', '1');
+    const warnSpy = setUp(ROOT_FILE_WITH_SRC_APP);
+
+    warnIfMisplacedInstrumentationFile({}, {});
+
+    expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});