diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 306cc8b26d1..92afdaf8877 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 - Extend error handling of plugin RPC methods [#6759](https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6759)
 - Added engine_newPayloadV4 and engine_getPayloadV4 methods [#6783](https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6783)
 - Reduce storage size of receipts [#6602](https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6602)
+- Prevent startup with BONSAI and privacy enabled [#6809](https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6809)
 
 ### Bug fixes
 - Fix txpool dump/restore race condition [#6665](https://github.com/hyperledger/besu/pull/6665)
diff --git a/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/BesuCommand.java b/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/BesuCommand.java
index 901c2cf2629..023133f7ae2 100644
--- a/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/BesuCommand.java
+++ b/besu/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/BesuCommand.java
@@ -1979,6 +1979,9 @@ private PrivacyParameters privacyParameters() {
         throw new ParameterException(
             commandLine, String.format("%s %s", "Checkpoint sync", errorSuffix));
       }
+      if (getDataStorageConfiguration().getDataStorageFormat().equals(DataStorageFormat.BONSAI)) {
+        throw new ParameterException(commandLine, String.format("%s %s", "Bonsai", errorSuffix));
+      }
       if (isPruningEnabled()) {
         throw new ParameterException(commandLine, String.format("%s %s", "Pruning", errorSuffix));
       }
diff --git a/besu/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/PrivacyOptionsTest.java b/besu/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/PrivacyOptionsTest.java
index 84988aa2f09..3485e527be3 100644
--- a/besu/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/PrivacyOptionsTest.java
+++ b/besu/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/cli/PrivacyOptionsTest.java
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -192,6 +195,26 @@ public void privacyWithCheckpointSyncMustError() {
     assertThat(commandOutput.toString(UTF_8)).isEmpty();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void privacyWithBonsaiDefaultMustError() {
+    // bypass overridden parseCommand method which specifies bonsai
+    super.parseCommand("--privacy-enabled");
+
+    assertThat(commandErrorOutput.toString(UTF_8))
+        .contains("Bonsai cannot be enabled with privacy.");
+    assertThat(commandOutput.toString(UTF_8)).isEmpty();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void privacyWithBonsaiExplicitMustError() {
+    // bypass overridden parseCommand method which specifies bonsai
+    super.parseCommand("--privacy-enabled", "--data-storage-format", "BONSAI");
+
+    assertThat(commandErrorOutput.toString(UTF_8))
+        .contains("Bonsai cannot be enabled with privacy.");
+    assertThat(commandOutput.toString(UTF_8)).isEmpty();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void privacyWithPruningMustError() {
     parseCommand("--pruning-enabled", "--privacy-enabled");
@@ -483,4 +506,13 @@ public void eeaWsApisWithPrivacyDisabledLogsWarning() {
     assertThat(commandOutput.toString(UTF_8)).isEmpty();
     assertThat(commandErrorOutput.toString(UTF_8)).isEmpty();
   }
+
+  @Override
+  protected TestBesuCommand parseCommand(final String... args) {
+    // privacy requires forest to be specified
+    final List<String> argsPlusForest = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.stream(args).toList());
+    argsPlusForest.add("--data-storage-format");
+    argsPlusForest.add("FOREST");
+    return super.parseCommand(argsPlusForest.toArray(String[]::new));
+  }
 }