diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-node/src/spanprocessor.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-node/src/spanprocessor.ts
index 197a17587327..b75094f78e06 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-node/src/spanprocessor.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-node/src/spanprocessor.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export class SentrySpanProcessor implements OtelSpanProcessor {
     if (sentryParentSpan) {
       const sentryChildSpan = sentryParentSpan.startChild({
         description: otelSpan.name,
-        // instrumentor: 'otel',
+        instrumenter: 'otel',
         startTimestamp: convertOtelTimeToSeconds(otelSpan.startTime),
         spanId: otelSpanId,
       });
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ export class SentrySpanProcessor implements OtelSpanProcessor {
       const transaction = hub.startTransaction({
         name: otelSpan.name,
         ...traceCtx,
-        // instrumentor: 'otel',
+        instrumenter: 'otel',
         startTimestamp: convertOtelTimeToSeconds(otelSpan.startTime),
         spanId: otelSpanId,
       });
diff --git a/packages/tracing/src/hubextensions.ts b/packages/tracing/src/hubextensions.ts
index e3e833262a97..c3cc2967be9d 100644
--- a/packages/tracing/src/hubextensions.ts
+++ b/packages/tracing/src/hubextensions.ts
@@ -166,6 +166,19 @@ function _startTransaction(
   const client = this.getClient();
   const options: Partial<ClientOptions> = (client && client.getOptions()) || {};
 
+  const configInstrumenter = options.instrumenter || 'sentry';
+  const transactionInstrumenter = transactionContext.instrumenter || 'sentry';
+
+  if (configInstrumenter !== transactionInstrumenter) {
+    __DEBUG_BUILD__ &&
+      logger.error(
+        `A transaction was started with instrumenter=\`${transactionInstrumenter}\`, but the SDK is configured with the \`${configInstrumenter}\` instrumenter.
+The transaction will not be sampled. Please use the ${configInstrumenter} instrumentation to start transactions.`,
+      );
+
+    transactionContext.sampled = false;
+  }
+
   let transaction = new Transaction(transactionContext, this);
   transaction = sample(transaction, options, {
     parentSampled: transactionContext.parentSampled,
diff --git a/packages/tracing/test/hub.test.ts b/packages/tracing/test/hub.test.ts
index 5679431187c6..18c357066ff5 100644
--- a/packages/tracing/test/hub.test.ts
+++ b/packages/tracing/test/hub.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const mathRandom = jest.spyOn(Math, 'random');
 jest.spyOn(Transaction.prototype, 'setMetadata');
 jest.spyOn(logger, 'warn');
 jest.spyOn(logger, 'log');
+jest.spyOn(logger, 'error');
 jest.spyOn(utilsModule, 'isNodeEnv');
 
 addDOMPropertiesToGlobal(['XMLHttpRequest', 'Event', 'location', 'document']);
@@ -377,6 +378,27 @@ describe('Hub', () => {
       expect(client.captureEvent).not.toBeCalled();
     });
 
+    it('should drop transactions when using wrong instrumenter', () => {
+      const options = getDefaultBrowserClientOptions({ tracesSampleRate: 1, instrumenter: 'otel' });
+      const client = new BrowserClient(options);
+      jest.spyOn(client, 'captureEvent');
+
+      const hub = new Hub(client);
+      makeMain(hub);
+      const transaction = hub.startTransaction({ name: 'dogpark' });
+
+      jest.spyOn(transaction, 'finish');
+      transaction.finish();
+
+      expect(transaction.sampled).toBe(false);
+      expect(transaction.finish).toReturnWith(undefined);
+      expect(client.captureEvent).not.toBeCalled();
+      expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        `A transaction was started with instrumenter=\`sentry\`, but the SDK is configured with the \`otel\` instrumenter.
+The transaction will not be sampled. Please use the otel instrumentation to start transactions.`,
+      );
+    });
+
     describe('sampling inheritance', () => {
       it('should propagate sampling decision to child spans', () => {
         const options = getDefaultBrowserClientOptions({ tracesSampleRate: Math.random() });