diff --git a/crates/neon/Cargo.toml b/crates/neon/Cargo.toml
index 4988d3f5b..9c7045642 100644
--- a/crates/neon/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/neon/Cargo.toml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ features = ["sync"]
 optional = true
 
 [features]
-default = ["napi-1"]
+default = ["napi-8"]
 
 # Enable the creation of external binary buffers. This is disabled by default
 # since these APIs fail at runtime in environments that enable the V8 memory
diff --git a/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/functions.rs b/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/functions.rs
index a708a4548..55bc5038b 100644
--- a/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/functions.rs
+++ b/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/functions.rs
@@ -437,21 +437,36 @@ pub(crate) unsafe fn load(env: Env) -> Result<(), libloading::Error> {
 
     // This never fail since `get_version` is in N-API Version 1 and the module will fail
     // with `Error: Module did not self-register` if N-API does not exist.
-    let version = get_version(&host, env).expect("Failed to find N-API version");
+    let actual_version = get_version(&host, env).expect("Failed to find N-API version");
 
-    napi1::load(&host, version, 1);
+    let expected_version = match () {
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-8") => 8,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-7") => 7,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-6") => 6,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-5") => 5,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-4") => 4,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-3") => 3,
+        _ if cfg!(feature = "napi-2") => 2,
+        _ => 1,
+    };
+
+    if actual_version < expected_version {
+        eprintln!("Minimum required Node-API version {expected_version}, found {actual_version}.\n\nSee the Node-API support matrix for more details: https://nodejs.org/api/n-api.html#node-api-version-matrix");
+    }
+
+    napi1::load(&host);
 
     #[cfg(feature = "napi-4")]
-    napi4::load(&host, version, 4);
+    napi4::load(&host);
 
     #[cfg(feature = "napi-5")]
-    napi5::load(&host, version, 5);
+    napi5::load(&host);
 
     #[cfg(feature = "napi-6")]
-    napi6::load(&host, version, 6);
+    napi6::load(&host);
 
     #[cfg(feature = "napi-8")]
-    napi8::load(&host, version, 8);
+    napi8::load(&host);
 
     Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/mod.rs b/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/mod.rs
index 1a5a23d9b..cdd8559e1 100644
--- a/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/neon/src/sys/bindings/mod.rs
@@ -137,18 +137,7 @@ macro_rules! generate {
             }
         };
 
-        pub(super) unsafe fn load(
-            host: &libloading::Library,
-            actual_napi_version: u32,
-            expected_napi_version: u32,
-        ) {
-            assert!(
-                actual_napi_version >= expected_napi_version,
-                "Minimum required Node-API version {}, found {}.",
-                expected_napi_version,
-                actual_napi_version,
-            );
-
+        pub(super) unsafe fn load(host: &libloading::Library) {
             let print_warn = |err| eprintln!("WARN: {}", err);
 
             NAPI = Napi {