Prometheus
prometheus.io › docs › concepts › metric_types
Metric types | Prometheus
Similar to a histogram, a summary samples observations (usually things like request durations and response sizes). While it also provides a total count of observations and a sum of all observed values, it calculates configurable quantiles over a sliding time window. A summary with a base metric name of <basename> exposes multiple time series during a scrape:
OpenObserve
openobserve.ai › home › blog › prometheus metrics count basics
Prometheus Metrics Count Basics
September 26, 2025 - Prometheus data is built on two concepts: metrics and labels. Metrics are the actual measurements you collect. Examples include: http_requests_total → total number of HTTP requests
How is it possible to know the total number of unique metrics in Prometheus - Stack Overflow
The metric is added in a central place from the app and at any point, we will be having different combinations of the labels leading to different time series. ... We want to monitor the number of different time series that exist at any point in time i.e. we are looking for a unique count of all the unique combination of labels. Is there a way we can access this using a Prometheus ... More on stackoverflow.com
Counter reset after target restart
That's expected. Counters reset if the service being monitored restarts, or if they roll over at a max value. You should be viewing them using a function like rate(), increase(), etc. You should probably have a read of some documentation or guides, as just about all of them will mention this. Here's one of the places it's mentioned in the official docs . If you absolutely need to know the exact number of events which have occurred since some point in time then you could write persistence into the service you're monitoring, then expose that value as a gauge. However that type of metric is probably better off being inferred from another system, such as logs. More on reddit.com
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February 22, 2023Prometheus not showing up count of 5xx errors
Hello, promhttp_metric_handler_requests_total{code="500", instance="10.0.0.37:9100", job="node"} I suspect this only shows http 500 for the exporter itself. Does your application have a /metrics endpoint that Prometheus is scraping or do you have some httpd in front of the app that's being scraped, like an apache exporter? More on reddit.com
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May 2, 2022Extracting the percent use of CPU from node exporter
The simple way to get CPU utilization ratio is this:
avg without (mode,cpu) (
1 - rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode="idle"}[1m])
) More on reddit.com 9
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March 8, 2021What are Prometheus metrics?
Prometheus metrics are structured time series built on a flexible data model. Each metric includes a name, labels, a sample value, and a timestamp. Samples are collected at intervals and queried using PromQL.
last9.io
last9.io › blog › prometheus-metrics-types-a-deep-dive
Prometheus Metrics Types - A Deep Dive | Last9
How do Counter metrics work in Prometheus?
Counter metrics represent a running total of event occurrences. Prometheus scrapes the value at regular intervals, and PromQL can compute the rate of change or increase over time, even across counter resets.
last9.io
last9.io › blog › prometheus-metrics-types-a-deep-dive
Prometheus Metrics Types - A Deep Dive | Last9
What is the format of Prometheus metrics?
Prometheus metrics use a plaintext exposition format served over HTTP. Each line includes a metric name, an optional label set, and a value. Example: http_requests_total{method="GET", code="200"} 1027
last9.io
last9.io › blog › prometheus-metrics-types-a-deep-dive
Prometheus Metrics Types - A Deep Dive | Last9
Reddit
reddit.com › r/prometheusmonitoring › how to get a total number of metrics scraped by prometheus?
r/PrometheusMonitoring on Reddit: How to get a total number of metrics scraped by Prometheus?
September 2, 2021 -
Hi,
I'm trying to troubleshoot Prometheus high memory usage. While I can view my top x metrics with high cardinality, to get an idea, I want to know the total number of metrics that prometheus is currently storing in tsdb. Is there a query that can be useful here?
Thanks In advance.
Top answer 1 of 4
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The “prometheus_tsdb_head_series” metric may be what you’re looking for. Also check out the “tsdb analyze” command in promtool for some more TSDB insights.
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Metrics-count=$(wget ${scrape-url} | wc -l) Or something close to that probably
Can I use Prometheus to monitor how many API calls my application MAKES? Nov 28, 2023
r/PrometheusMonitoring 2y ago
Last9
last9.io › blog › prometheus-metrics-types-a-deep-dive
Prometheus Metrics Types - A Deep Dive | Last9
June 17, 2026 - Histograms and summaries expose more than one time series. The _count series is the total number of observations, and _sum is the total of all observed values, so _sum / _count gives the average.
Tigera
tigera.io › home › prometheus monitoring › prometheus metrics
Prometheus Metrics: A Practical Guide | Tigera – Creator of Calico
July 30, 2021 - A common next step is a Prometheus Grafana setup, which turns these scraped metrics into shared dashboards and visual panels. ... Counter: A cumulative metric that only goes up, or resets to 0 on restart. Used to track counts of events like requests, errors, or completed tasks (for example, http_requests_total).
Google Groups
groups.google.com › g › prometheus-users › c › 5LmkR3clOI0
Count Samples per Metrics
So far, we have a promql query that shows the total amount of time series per metric (count by (__name__)({__name__=~".+"})) and also per target(scrape_samples_scraped).
VictoriaMetrics
victoriametrics.com › blog › prometheus metrics explained: counters, gauges, histograms & summaries
Prometheus Metrics Explained: Counters, Gauges, Histograms & Summaries
February 21, 2025 - Metric type is often reflected in the suffix, such as _total and _count for counters. It can be combined with base units, e.g.
Chronosphere
chronosphere.io › home › an introduction to the 4 primary prometheus metrics types
An introduction to the 4 primary Prometheus metrics types
April 2, 2025 - Counter metricss are running or cumulative counts with metric client libraries that keep an ever-increasing total sum of the number of events for the lifetime of the application. These events can be periodically measured by having Prometheus ...
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prometheus_tsdb_head_series
Just because I always forget and have to Google this, and this question is at the top. As per this answer there will likely be a variance between prometheus_tsdb_head_series & count({__name__=~".+"}) because of variations in what they consider "active", but unless you have a large variability in metric count, I'd recommend prometheus_tsdb_head_series because if you have a lot of metrics, it's a lot faster to query.
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How about count({__name__=~".+"})?
It does return number of time series in the database. I compared with amount of metrics currently exposed by each target by manual scrapping, and it matches it +/- 10%. I guess the difference is due to some targets that I had in the past and now they are offline.
SigNoz
signoz.io › guides › how to measure total requests with prometheus - a time-based guide
How to Measure Total Requests with Prometheus - A Time-Based Guide | SigNoz
July 25, 2024 - A counter is a cumulative metric that only increases over time, resetting to zero when the process restarts. This behavior makes counters perfect for tracking total requests, as each incoming request increments the counter.
Better Stack
betterstack.com › community › guides › monitoring › prometheus-metrics-explained
A Practical Guide to Prometheus Metric Types | Better Stack Community
In Prometheus, a Counter represents ... like a running tally that never decreases. It tracks the total count of something, such as the number of HTTP requests received by a service....
TigerData
tigerdata.com › blog › four-types-prometheus-metrics-to-collect
A Deep Dive Into the Four Types of Prometheus Metrics
December 10, 2025 - A counter with the total number of measurements. The metric name uses the _count suffix. A counter with the sum of the values of all measurements. The metric name uses the _sum suffix.
Better Stack
betterstack.com › community › questions › get-total-requests-in-time-period
Get Total Requests in a Period of Time | Better Stack Community
February 26, 2025 - To calculate the total number of requests over a specified period of time using Prometheus, you can utilize the increase function. This function is ideal for summing up the total count of a counter metric over a given time interval.
Mkaz
mkaz.me › blog › 2023 › simple-prometheus-queries-for-metrics-inspection
Simple Prometheus queries for metrics inspection | Michal Kazmierczak
For starters, let’s pull the total number of series. That is the count of all unique label combinations (including the __name__ label). ... This query relies on one simple rule: Prometheus Query Language (PromQL) requires to provide either a metric name or at least one label matcher.
Dash0
dash0.com › home › knowledge base › understanding the prometheus metric types
Understanding the Prometheus Metric Types · Dash0
July 21, 2025 - You would use a Counter to track the total number of HTTP requests your service has handled, the number of jobs processed by a worker, or the total exceptions logged since the application started. Now, if a service restarts, this cumulative value would reset to zero. However, Prometheus is smart enough to handle this in its calculations through its rate()Copy and increase()Copy functions.
Zilliz
zilliz.com › glossary › prometheus metrics
Understanding Prometheus: Key Metrics for Effective Monitoring
Counter metrics in Prometheus record the number of times a particular event occurs. They only increase over time or reset to zero when the process restarts. Hence, they are used for tracking cumulative quantities like the number of requests handled, tasks completed, or errors logged.
Prometheus
prometheus.io › docs › tutorials › understanding_metric_types
Understanding metric types | Prometheus
Counter is a metric value that can only increase or reset i.e. the value cannot reduce than the previous value.
OneUptime
oneuptime.com › home › blog › how to implement prometheus counter best practices
How to Implement Prometheus Counter Best Practices
January 30, 2026 - This is a Prometheus convention that makes metric types immediately recognizable. # Good http_requests_total errors_total processed_bytes_total # Bad http_requests errors_count processed_bytes
SigNoz
signoz.io › guides › how to retrieve all prometheus metrics - a step-by-step guide
How to Retrieve All Prometheus Metrics - A Step-by-Step Guide | SigNoz
October 30, 2024 - Prometheus collects four main types ... Counters: A counter is a cumulative metric that can only increase over time (or reset to zero upon restart). It’s used to track the number of times an event has occurred, e.g., the total ...