diff --git a/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/facebook/react/ReactPlugin.kt b/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/facebook/react/ReactPlugin.kt
index 061a56bdc37bf6..9f8759f0dbc624 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/facebook/react/ReactPlugin.kt
+++ b/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/facebook/react/ReactPlugin.kt
@@ -15,17 +15,37 @@ import com.facebook.react.tasks.BuildCodegenCLITask
 import com.facebook.react.tasks.GenerateCodegenArtifactsTask
 import com.facebook.react.tasks.GenerateCodegenSchemaTask
 import java.io.File
+import kotlin.system.exitProcess
 import org.gradle.api.Plugin
 import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.Task
+import org.gradle.internal.jvm.Jvm
 
 class ReactPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
   override fun apply(project: Project) {
+    checkJvmVersion()
     val extension = project.extensions.create("react", ReactExtension::class.java, project)
     applyAppPlugin(project, extension)
     applyCodegenPlugin(project, extension)
   }
 
+  private fun checkJvmVersion() {
+    val jvmVersion = Jvm.current()?.javaVersion?.majorVersion
+    if ((jvmVersion?.toIntOrNull() ?: 0) <= 8) {
+      println("\n\n\n")
+      println(
+          "**************************************************************************************************************")
+      println("\n\n")
+      println("ERROR: requires JDK11 or higher.")
+      println("Incompatible major version detected: '" + jvmVersion + "'")
+      println("\n\n")
+      println(
+          "**************************************************************************************************************")
+      println("\n\n\n")
+      exitProcess(1)
+    }
+  }
+
   private fun applyAppPlugin(project: Project, config: ReactExtension) {
     project.afterEvaluate {
       if (config.applyAppPlugin.getOrElse(false)) {
diff --git a/react.gradle b/react.gradle
index 0ace9be826f805..4c6a5151343a97 100644
--- a/react.gradle
+++ b/react.gradle
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.condition.Os
+import org.gradle.internal.jvm.Jvm
 
 def config = project.hasProperty("react") ? project.react : [:];
 
@@ -129,6 +130,19 @@ android {
     }
 }
 
+def jvmVersion = Jvm.current().javaVersion.majorVersion
+if (jvmVersion.toInteger() <= 8) {
+    println "\n\n\n"
+    println "**************************************************************************************************************"
+    println "\n\n"
+    println "ERROR: requires JDK11 or higher."
+    println "Incompatible major version detected: '" + jvmVersion + "'"
+    println "\n\n"
+    println "**************************************************************************************************************"
+    println "\n\n\n"
+    System.exit(1)
+}
+
 afterEvaluate {
     def isAndroidLibrary = plugins.hasPlugin("com.android.library")
     def variants = isAndroidLibrary ? android.libraryVariants : android.applicationVariants