diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignatures.java b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignatures.java
index 310736c014cc..03de49445e2d 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignatures.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignatures.java
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
 import org.joda.time.Instant;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /** Utilities for working with {@link DoFnSignature}. See {@link #getSignature}. */
 @Internal
@@ -113,6 +115,8 @@
 })
 public class DoFnSignatures {
 
+  private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DoFnSignatures.class);
+
   private DoFnSignatures() {}
 
   /**
@@ -2327,12 +2331,59 @@ private static Map<String, DoFnSignature.StateDeclaration> analyzeStateDeclarati
           (TypeDescriptor<? extends State>)
               TypeDescriptor.of(fnClazz).resolveType(unresolvedStateType);
 
+      // Warn if ValueState contains a collection type that could benefit from specialized state
+      warnIfValueStateContainsCollection(fnClazz, id, stateType);
+
       declarations.put(id, DoFnSignature.StateDeclaration.create(id, field, stateType));
     }
 
     return ImmutableMap.copyOf(declarations);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Warns if a ValueState is declared with a collection type (Map, List, Set) that could benefit
+   * from using specialized state types (MapState, BagState, SetState) for better performance.
+   */
+  private static void warnIfValueStateContainsCollection(
+      Class<?> fnClazz, String stateId, TypeDescriptor<? extends State> stateType) {
+    if (!stateType.isSubtypeOf(TypeDescriptor.of(ValueState.class))) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // Use TypeDescriptor.resolveType() to extract ValueState's type parameter
+    // This preserves generic type information better than raw Type manipulation
+    TypeDescriptor<?> valueTypeDescriptor =
+        stateType.resolveType(ValueState.class.getTypeParameters()[0]);
+
+    // Skip if the type has unresolved parameters (e.g., TypeVariable, WildcardType)
+    if (valueTypeDescriptor.hasUnresolvedParameters()) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // Use TypeDescriptor.isSubtypeOf() for type checking - stays in TypeDescriptor API
+    String recommendation = null;
+    if (valueTypeDescriptor.isSubtypeOf(TypeDescriptor.of(Map.class))) {
+      recommendation = "MapState";
+    } else if (valueTypeDescriptor.isSubtypeOf(TypeDescriptor.of(List.class))) {
+      recommendation = "BagState or OrderedListState";
+    } else if (valueTypeDescriptor.isSubtypeOf(TypeDescriptor.of(java.util.Set.class))) {
+      recommendation = "SetState";
+    }
+
+    if (recommendation != null) {
+      LOG.info(
+          "DoFn {} declares ValueState '{}' with collection type {}. "
+              + "ValueState reads/writes the entire collection on each access. "
+              + "This is appropriate for small collections or atomic replacement. "
+              + "For large collections or frequent appends, consider using {} instead "
+              + "(if supported by your runner).",
+          fnClazz.getSimpleName(),
+          stateId,
+          valueTypeDescriptor.getRawType().getSimpleName(),
+          recommendation);
+    }
+  }
+
   private static @Nullable Method findAnnotatedMethod(
       ErrorReporter errors, Class<? extends Annotation> anno, Class<?> fnClazz, boolean required) {
     Collection<Method> matches =
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignaturesTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignaturesTest.java
index de4a622e03d7..a394b23cd7a0 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignaturesTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transforms/reflect/DoFnSignaturesTest.java
@@ -1700,4 +1700,65 @@ public void onMyTimer() {}
     @Override
     public void processWithTimer(ProcessContext context, Timer timer) {}
   }
+
+  // Test DoFns for ValueState collection warning tests
+  private static class DoFnWithMapValueState extends DoFn<String, String> {
+    @StateId("mapState")
+    private final StateSpec<ValueState<java.util.Map<String, String>>> mapState =
+        StateSpecs.value();
+
+    @ProcessElement
+    public void process() {}
+  }
+
+  private static class DoFnWithListValueState extends DoFn<String, String> {
+    @StateId("listState")
+    private final StateSpec<ValueState<java.util.List<String>>> listState = StateSpecs.value();
+
+    @ProcessElement
+    public void process() {}
+  }
+
+  private static class DoFnWithSetValueState extends DoFn<String, String> {
+    @StateId("setState")
+    private final StateSpec<ValueState<java.util.Set<String>>> setState = StateSpecs.value();
+
+    @ProcessElement
+    public void process() {}
+  }
+
+  private static class DoFnWithSimpleValueState extends DoFn<String, String> {
+    @StateId("simpleState")
+    private final StateSpec<ValueState<String>> simpleState = StateSpecs.value();
+
+    @ProcessElement
+    public void process() {}
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testValueStateWithMapLogsWarning() {
+    // This test verifies that the signature can be parsed for DoFns with collection ValueState.
+    // The warning is logged but doesn't prevent the signature from being created.
+    DoFnSignature signature = DoFnSignatures.getSignature(DoFnWithMapValueState.class);
+    assertThat(signature.stateDeclarations().get("mapState"), notNullValue());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testValueStateWithListLogsWarning() {
+    DoFnSignature signature = DoFnSignatures.getSignature(DoFnWithListValueState.class);
+    assertThat(signature.stateDeclarations().get("listState"), notNullValue());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testValueStateWithSetLogsWarning() {
+    DoFnSignature signature = DoFnSignatures.getSignature(DoFnWithSetValueState.class);
+    assertThat(signature.stateDeclarations().get("setState"), notNullValue());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testValueStateWithSimpleTypeNoWarning() {
+    // Simple types should not trigger any warning
+    DoFnSignature signature = DoFnSignatures.getSignature(DoFnWithSimpleValueState.class);
+    assertThat(signature.stateDeclarations().get("simpleState"), notNullValue());
+  }
 }