diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 7c273107..1ce770f1 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@ helmDefaults:
   waitForJobs: true
   # time in seconds to wait for any individual Kubernetes operation (like Jobs for hooks, and waits on pod/pvc/svc/deployment readiness) (default 300)
   timeout: 600
-  # performs pods restart for the resource if applicable (default false)
+  # performs pods restart for the resource if applicable (default false).
+  # Ignored with a warning on Helm 4, which removed --recreate-pods.
   recreatePods: true
   # forces resource update through delete/recreate if needed (default false)
   force: false
@@ -254,7 +255,7 @@ releases:
     # waitRetries: 3
     waitForJobs: true
     timeout: 60
-    recreatePods: true
+    recreatePods: true # ignored with a warning on Helm 4
     force: false
     reuseValues: false
     # set `false` to uninstall this release on sync.  (default true)
diff --git a/pkg/state/state.go b/pkg/state/state.go
index d100a3b5..1c50065e 100644
--- a/pkg/state/state.go
+++ b/pkg/state/state.go
@@ -4296,7 +4296,14 @@ func (st *HelmState) flagsForUpgrade(helm helmexec.Interface, release *ReleaseSp
 		flags = append(flags, "--force-conflicts")
 	}
 
-	if release.RecreatePods != nil && *release.RecreatePods || release.RecreatePods == nil && st.HelmDefaults.RecreatePods {
+	recreatePodsEnabled := (release.RecreatePods != nil && *release.RecreatePods) || (release.RecreatePods == nil && st.HelmDefaults.RecreatePods)
+
+	// Helm 4 removed --recreate-pods (helm/helm#31023) and fails with "unknown flag".
+	// It has no replacement flag; Helm recommends a checksum annotation on the pod template.
+	switch {
+	case recreatePodsEnabled && helm.IsHelm4():
+		st.logger.Warnf("recreatePods is not supported by Helm 4, ignoring it for release %s", release.Name)
+	case recreatePodsEnabled:
 		flags = append(flags, "--recreate-pods")
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/state/state_test.go b/pkg/state/state_test.go
index 998dcb80..f1fd54fd 100644
--- a/pkg/state/state_test.go
+++ b/pkg/state/state_test.go
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 package state
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"slices"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3"
@@ -459,10 +461,12 @@ func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 			wantErr: "force and forceConflicts are mutually exclusive (check both releases[].force/forceConflicts and helmDefaults.force/forceConflicts)",
 		},
 		{
-			name: "recreate-pods",
+			name: "recreate-pods-helm3",
 			defaults: HelmSpec{
-				RecreatePods: false,
+				RecreatePods:    false,
+				CreateNamespace: &disable,
 			},
+			version: semver.MustParse("3.10.0"),
 			release: &ReleaseSpec{
 				Chart:        "test/chart",
 				Version:      "0.1",
@@ -477,10 +481,12 @@ func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name: "recreate-pods-from-default",
+			name: "recreate-pods-from-default-helm3",
 			defaults: HelmSpec{
-				RecreatePods: true,
+				RecreatePods:    true,
+				CreateNamespace: &disable,
 			},
+			version: semver.MustParse("3.10.0"),
 			release: &ReleaseSpec{
 				Chart:        "test/chart",
 				Version:      "0.1",
@@ -493,6 +499,43 @@ func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 				"--namespace", "test-namespace",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "recreate-pods-helm4",
+			defaults: HelmSpec{
+				RecreatePods:    false,
+				CreateNamespace: &disable,
+			},
+			version: semver.MustParse("4.0.0"),
+			release: &ReleaseSpec{
+				Chart:        "test/chart",
+				Version:      "0.1",
+				RecreatePods: &enable,
+				Name:         "test-charts",
+				Namespace:    "test-namespace",
+			},
+			want: []string{
+				"--version", "0.1",
+				"--namespace", "test-namespace",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "recreate-pods-from-default-helm4",
+			defaults: HelmSpec{
+				RecreatePods:    true,
+				CreateNamespace: &disable,
+			},
+			version: semver.MustParse("4.0.0"),
+			release: &ReleaseSpec{
+				Chart:     "test/chart",
+				Version:   "0.1",
+				Name:      "test-charts",
+				Namespace: "test-namespace",
+			},
+			want: []string{
+				"--version", "0.1",
+				"--namespace", "test-namespace",
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "wait",
 			defaults: HelmSpec{
@@ -1438,6 +1481,7 @@ func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 				basePath:     "./",
 				Releases:     []ReleaseSpec{*tt.release},
 				HelmDefaults: tt.defaults,
+				logger:       logger,
 				valsRuntime:  valsRuntime,
 			}
 			helm := &exectest.Helm{
@@ -1458,6 +1502,47 @@ func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestHelmState_flagsForUpgrade_RecreatePodsWarning(t *testing.T) {
+	enable := true
+	disable := false
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		version  *semver.Version
+		wantWarn bool
+	}{
+		{name: "helm4", version: semver.MustParse("4.0.0"), wantWarn: true},
+		{name: "helm3", version: semver.MustParse("3.10.0"), wantWarn: false},
+	}
+	for i := range tests {
+		tt := tests[i]
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var logs bytes.Buffer
+			release := &ReleaseSpec{
+				Chart:        "test/chart",
+				RecreatePods: &enable,
+				Name:         "test-charts",
+				Namespace:    "test-namespace",
+			}
+			state := &HelmState{
+				basePath:     "./",
+				Releases:     []ReleaseSpec{*release},
+				HelmDefaults: HelmSpec{CreateNamespace: &disable},
+				logger:       helmexec.NewLogger(&logs, "warn"),
+				valsRuntime:  valsRuntime,
+			}
+
+			if _, _, err := state.flagsForUpgrade(&exectest.Helm{Version: tt.version}, release, 0, &SyncOpts{}); err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected error flagsForUpgrade: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			warned := strings.Contains(logs.String(), "recreatePods is not supported by Helm 4, ignoring it for release test-charts")
+			if warned != tt.wantWarn {
+				t.Errorf("warning logged = %v, want %v; logs: %q", warned, tt.wantWarn, logs.String())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestHelmState_flagsForTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 	enable := true
 	disable := false