diff --git a/bin/reth/src/commands/db/diff.rs b/bin/reth/src/commands/db/diff.rs
index b7c46f42bb..9c098a50b5 100644
--- a/bin/reth/src/commands/db/diff.rs
+++ b/bin/reth/src/commands/db/diff.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use std::{
     io::Write,
     path::{Path, PathBuf},
 };
-use tracing::info;
+use tracing::{info, warn};
 
 #[derive(Parser, Debug)]
 /// The arguments for the `reth db diff` command
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ impl Command {
     /// The discrepancies and extra elements, along with a brief summary of the diff results are
     /// then written to a file in the output directory.
     pub fn execute(self, tool: &DbTool<DatabaseEnv>) -> eyre::Result<()> {
+        warn!("Make sure the node is not running when running `reth db diff`!");
         // open second db
         let second_db_path: PathBuf = self.secondary_datadir.join("db").into();
         let second_db = open_db_read_only(&second_db_path, self.second_db.database_args())?;
@@ -68,8 +69,13 @@ impl Command {
         };
 
         for table in tables {
-            let primary_tx = tool.provider_factory.db_ref().tx()?;
-            let secondary_tx = second_db.tx()?;
+            let mut primary_tx = tool.provider_factory.db_ref().tx()?;
+            let mut secondary_tx = second_db.tx()?;
+
+            // disable long read transaction safety, since this will run for a while and it's
+            // expected that the node is not running
+            primary_tx.disable_long_read_transaction_safety();
+            secondary_tx.disable_long_read_transaction_safety();
 
             let output_dir = self.output.clone();
             match table {