diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/dropMiddlewareTunnelRequests.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/dropMiddlewareTunnelRequests.ts
index ce54e8e25f85..fbbe8f704fbe 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/dropMiddlewareTunnelRequests.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/dropMiddlewareTunnelRequests.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { SEMATTRS_HTTP_TARGET } from '@opentelemetry/semantic-conventions';
 import { getClient, GLOBAL_OBJ, SEMANTIC_ATTRIBUTE_SENTRY_ORIGIN, type Span, type SpanAttributes } from '@sentry/core';
 import { isSentryRequestSpan } from '@sentry/opentelemetry';
 import { ATTR_NEXT_SPAN_TYPE } from '../nextSpanAttributes';
+import { isPathnameUnderSentryTunnelRoute } from './tunnelPathnameMatch';
 import { TRANSACTION_ATTR_SHOULD_DROP_TRANSACTION } from '../span-attributes-with-logic-attached';
 
 const globalWithInjectedValues = GLOBAL_OBJ as typeof GLOBAL_OBJ & {
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ function isTunnelRouteSpan(spanAttributes: Record<string, unknown>): boolean {
     // Extract pathname from the target (e.g., "/tunnel?o=123&p=456" -> "/tunnel")
     const pathname = httpTarget.split('?')[0] || '';
 
-    return pathname === tunnelPath || pathname.startsWith(`${tunnelPath}/`);
+    return isPathnameUnderSentryTunnelRoute(pathname, tunnelPath);
   }
 
   return false;
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/tunnelPathnameMatch.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/tunnelPathnameMatch.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9f107d33636c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/common/utils/tunnelPathnameMatch.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+/**
+ * Returns true when `pathname` is exactly the Sentry tunnel route or a sub-path
+ * (`tunnelPath` + `/...`). A plain `startsWith(tunnelPath)` is unsafe: e.g. tunnel
+ * `/api/t` must not match `/api/things`.
+ */
+export function isPathnameUnderSentryTunnelRoute(pathname: string, tunnelPath: string): boolean {
+  return pathname === tunnelPath || pathname.startsWith(`${tunnelPath}/`);
+}
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/src/common/wrapMiddlewareWithSentry.ts b/packages/nextjs/src/common/wrapMiddlewareWithSentry.ts
index 985354543a0d..d383837cbf17 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/src/common/wrapMiddlewareWithSentry.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/src/common/wrapMiddlewareWithSentry.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
   withIsolationScope,
 } from '@sentry/core';
 import { flushSafelyWithTimeout, waitUntil } from '../common/utils/responseEnd';
+import { isPathnameUnderSentryTunnelRoute } from '../common/utils/tunnelPathnameMatch';
 import type { EdgeRouteHandler } from '../edge/types';
 
 /**
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ export function wrapMiddlewareWithSentry<H extends EdgeRouteHandler>(
         // Check if the current request matches the tunnel route
         if (req instanceof Request) {
           const url = new URL(req.url);
-          const isTunnelRequest = url.pathname.startsWith(tunnelRoute);
+          const isTunnelRequest = isPathnameUnderSentryTunnelRoute(url.pathname, tunnelRoute);
 
           if (isTunnelRequest) {
             // Create a simple response that mimics NextResponse.next() so we don't need to import internals here
diff --git a/packages/nextjs/test/config/wrappers.test.ts b/packages/nextjs/test/config/wrappers.test.ts
index c61c92026f60..7d5f4029bd94 100644
--- a/packages/nextjs/test/config/wrappers.test.ts
+++ b/packages/nextjs/test/config/wrappers.test.ts
@@ -193,4 +193,33 @@ describe('wrapMiddlewareWithSentry', () => {
     expect(origFunction).toHaveBeenCalledWith(mockRequest);
     expect(result).toBe(mockReturnValue);
   });
+
+  test('should not treat paths as tunnel when they only share a prefix with tunnelRoute', async () => {
+    (globalThis as any)._sentryRewritesTunnelPath = '/api/t';
+
+    const mockReturnValue = { status: 200 };
+    const origFunction: EdgeRouteHandler = vi.fn(async (..._args) => mockReturnValue);
+    const wrappedOriginal = wrapMiddlewareWithSentry(origFunction);
+
+    const mockRequest = new Request('https://example.com/api/things', { method: 'GET' });
+
+    const result = await wrappedOriginal(mockRequest);
+
+    expect(origFunction).toHaveBeenCalledWith(mockRequest);
+    expect(result).toBe(mockReturnValue);
+  });
+
+  test('should skip processing for tunnel sub-paths under tunnelRoute', async () => {
+    (globalThis as any)._sentryRewritesTunnelPath = '/api/t';
+
+    const origFunction: EdgeRouteHandler = vi.fn(async () => ({ status: 200 }));
+    const wrappedOriginal = wrapMiddlewareWithSentry(origFunction);
+
+    const mockRequest = new Request('https://example.com/api/t/envelope?o=1');
+
+    const result = await wrappedOriginal(mockRequest);
+
+    expect(origFunction).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(result).toBeDefined();
+  });
 });