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Axiom supports ingesting, querying, and visualizing OpenTelemetry (OTel) metrics alongside logs and traces. This section explains how to work with OTel metrics in Axiom.
Support for OTel metrics is currently in public preview. For more information, see Feature states.

Prerequisites

You must use a dedicated dataset for OTel metrics. When you create a dataset, select the type of OTel data you want to send to it. For more information, see Create dataset.

Ingest metrics

You can ingest OTel metrics the same way you ingest logs and traces. For more information, see Send OpenTelemetry data to Axiom.

Query metrics

You can query metric data using AxQL, a purpose-built query language designed for metrics. AxQL blends the familiar syntax of the APL family with metric-specific features inspired by PromQL, while maintaining strong integration with Axiom’s data model and performance architecture. For more information, see Query metrics and Sample queries.

Dashboards and monitors

You can use OTel metrics in dashboards and monitors the same way you use logs and traces.
  • Build visualizations using AxQL queries.
  • Set alerts on derived metrics such as error rate or latency percentiles.
  • Combine multiple signals in a single panel.
For more information, see Dashboards and Monitors.

Migrate queries

If you use PromQL, you can translate your queries into AxQL with minimal changes. AxQL also offers features not available in PromQL, such as cross-dataset querying, native support for non-string tag types, and custom transformation pipelines. For more information, see Migrate PromQL queries to Axiom.

Current limitations

Axiom doesn’t support the following data types:
  • Exponential histograms
  • bytes, kvlist, and array tag value types
  • Exemplar, baggage, and context data
  • Nanosecond-precision timestamps
Axiom applies the following data model transformations:
  • Truncates nanosecond precision timestamps to the second.
  • Flattens all tags into a single namespace without differentiating between resource, scope, and metrics tags.
  • Converts unit to otel.metric.unit.
  • Doesn’t preserve description, properties, and histogram width. Axiom assumes equal-width histograms.
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