diff --git a/debug/src/debug.js b/debug/src/debug.js
index a5b660a9ac..6aeeaef17b 100644
--- a/debug/src/debug.js
+++ b/debug/src/debug.js
@@ -582,3 +582,11 @@ export function serializeVNode(vnode) {
 		children && children.length ? '>..</' + name + '>' : ' />'
 	}`;
 }
+
+options._hydrationMismatch = (newVNode, excessDomChildren) => {
+	const { type } = newVNode;
+	const availableTypes = excessDomChildren.map(child => child.localName);
+	console.error(
+		`Expected a DOM node of type ${type} but found ${availableTypes.join(', ')}as available DOM-node(s), this is caused by the SSR'd HTML containing different DOM-nodes compared to the hydrated one.\n\n${getOwnerStack(newVNode)}`
+	);
+};
diff --git a/debug/test/browser/debug.test.js b/debug/test/browser/debug.test.js
index 2dcb5a05ae..eda8e77534 100644
--- a/debug/test/browser/debug.test.js
+++ b/debug/test/browser/debug.test.js
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
-import { createElement, render, createRef, Component, Fragment } from 'preact';
+import {
+	createElement,
+	render,
+	createRef,
+	Component,
+	Fragment,
+	hydrate
+} from 'preact';
 import { useState } from 'preact/hooks';
 import {
 	setupScratch,
@@ -870,4 +877,43 @@ describe('debug', () => {
 			expect(console.error).to.not.be.called;
 		});
 	});
+
+	describe('Hydration mismatches', () => {
+		it('Should warn us for a node mismatch', () => {
+			scratch.innerHTML = '<div><span>foo</span>/div>';
+			const App = () => (
+				<div>
+					<p>foo</p>
+				</div>
+			);
+			hydrate(<App />, scratch);
+			expect(console.error).to.be.calledOnce;
+			expect(console.error).to.be.calledOnceWith(
+				sinon.match(/Expected a DOM node of type p but found span/)
+			);
+		});
+
+		it('Should not warn for a text-node mismatch', () => {
+			scratch.innerHTML = '<div>foo bar baz/div>';
+			const App = () => (
+				<div>
+					foo {'bar'} {'baz'}
+				</div>
+			);
+			hydrate(<App />, scratch);
+			expect(console.error).to.not.be.called;
+		});
+
+		it('Should not warn for a well-formed tree', () => {
+			scratch.innerHTML = '<div><span>foo</span><span>bar</span></div>';
+			const App = () => (
+				<div>
+					<span>foo</span>
+					<span>bar</span>
+				</div>
+			);
+			hydrate(<App />, scratch);
+			expect(console.error).to.not.be.called;
+		});
+	});
 });
diff --git a/mangle.json b/mangle.json
index fcd2dce74f..42b128bf62 100644
--- a/mangle.json
+++ b/mangle.json
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
       "$_listeners": "l",
       "$_cleanup": "__c",
       "$__hooks": "__H",
+      "$_hydrationMismatch": "__m",
       "$_list": "__",
       "$_pendingEffects": "__h",
       "$_value": "__",
diff --git a/src/diff/index.js b/src/diff/index.js
index 84c801bd02..40f17aea14 100644
--- a/src/diff/index.js
+++ b/src/diff/index.js
@@ -417,11 +417,15 @@ function diffElementNodes(
 			newProps.is && newProps
 		);
 
-		// we created a new parent, so none of the previously attached children can be reused:
-		excessDomChildren = null;
 		// we are creating a new node, so we can assume this is a new subtree (in
 		// case we are hydrating), this deopts the hydrate
-		isHydrating = false;
+		if (isHydrating) {
+			if (options._hydrationMismatch)
+				options._hydrationMismatch(newVNode, excessDomChildren);
+			isHydrating = false;
+		}
+		// we created a new parent, so none of the previously attached children can be reused:
+		excessDomChildren = null;
 	}
 
 	if (nodeType === null) {
diff --git a/src/internal.d.ts b/src/internal.d.ts
index cbf23b3888..d015180e36 100644
--- a/src/internal.d.ts
+++ b/src/internal.d.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ declare global {
 			oldVNode?: VNode | undefined,
 			errorInfo?: ErrorInfo | undefined
 		): void;
+		_hydrationMismatch?(vnode: VNode, excessDomChildren: Element[]): void;
 	}
 
 	export type ComponentChild =