diff --git a/graph/src/components/log_store/mod.rs b/graph/src/components/log_store/mod.rs
index b1d8dde2f16..a1db6b6aed5 100644
--- a/graph/src/components/log_store/mod.rs
+++ b/graph/src/components/log_store/mod.rs
@@ -17,9 +17,6 @@ pub enum LogStoreError {
     #[error("log store query failed: {0}")]
     QueryFailed(#[from] anyhow::Error),
 
-    #[error("log store is unavailable")]
-    Unavailable,
-
     #[error("log store initialization failed: {0}")]
     InitializationFailed(anyhow::Error),
 
diff --git a/graphql/src/execution/execution.rs b/graphql/src/execution/execution.rs
index b2a7136f75f..c3d116e6c64 100644
--- a/graphql/src/execution/execution.rs
+++ b/graphql/src/execution/execution.rs
@@ -303,6 +303,17 @@ pub(crate) async fn execute_root_selection_set_uncached(
         )]);
     }
 
+    // If a client requests `_logs` but this indexer has no log store
+    // configured, return an error rather than silently returning empty
+    // results, which would otherwise be indistinguishable from a subgraph that
+    // genuinely produced no logs. Checked before prefetch/introspection so we
+    // don't do that work only to error out.
+    if !logs_fields.is_empty() && !ctx.log_store.is_available() {
+        return Err(vec![QueryExecutionError::NotSupported(
+            "the `_logs` query is not enabled on this indexer".to_string(),
+        )]);
+    }
+
     // If we are getting regular data, prefetch it from the database
     let (mut values, trace) = if data_set.is_empty() && meta_items.is_empty() {
         (Object::default(), Trace::None)