diff --git a/docs/operational-metrics.md b/docs/operational-metrics.md
index 10524db69..5a7e0b782 100644
--- a/docs/operational-metrics.md
+++ b/docs/operational-metrics.md
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ Each table below provides documentation for an exported flowlogs-pipeline operat
 ### ingest_flows_processed
 | **Name** | ingest_flows_processed | 
 |:---|:---|
-| **Description** | Provides number of flows processed, batches processed, and batch size stats (in number of flows) | 
-| **Type** | summary | 
+| **Description** | Number of flows received by the ingester | 
+| **Type** | counter | 
 | **Labels** | stage | 
 
 
diff --git a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_grpc.go b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_grpc.go
index aac8f4b67..283b2c19c 100644
--- a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_grpc.go
+++ b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_grpc.go
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ func instrumentGRPC(m *metrics) grpc2.UnaryServerInterceptor {
 			m.latency.Observe(delay)
 		}
 
-		// instrument batch size distribution (which also instruments total flows counter under the hood)
-		m.batchSize.Observe(float64(len(flowRecords.Entries)))
+		// instrument flows processed counter
+		m.flowsProcessed.Add(float64(len(flowRecords.Entries)))
 
 		// instrument message bytes
 		m.batchSizeBytes.Observe(float64(proto.Size(flowRecords)))
diff --git a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_kafka.go b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_kafka.go
index e67fe317d..6571f94ea 100644
--- a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_kafka.go
+++ b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/ingest_kafka.go
@@ -79,8 +79,7 @@ func (k *ingestKafka) kafkaListener() {
 			if k.canLogMessages {
 				log.Debugf("string(kafkaMessage) = %s\n", string(kafkaMessage.Value))
 			}
-			// We don't know how many messages were in kafka internal batches, so just increment per-message
-			k.metrics.batchSize.Observe(1)
+			k.metrics.flowsProcessed.Inc()
 			messageLen := len(kafkaMessage.Value)
 			k.metrics.batchSizeBytes.Observe(float64(messageLen) + float64(len(kafkaMessage.Key)))
 			if messageLen > 0 {
diff --git a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/metrics.go b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/metrics.go
index c49f1a424..d59f761f2 100644
--- a/pkg/pipeline/ingest/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/pipeline/ingest/metrics.go
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ var (
 		operational.TypeHistogram,
 		"stage",
 	)
-	batchSizeSummary = operational.DefineMetric(
-		"ingest_flows_processed", // This is intentionally named to emphasize its utility for flows counting, despite being a batch size distribution
-		"Provides number of flows processed, batches processed, and batch size stats (in number of flows)",
-		operational.TypeSummary,
+	flowsProcessedCounter = operational.DefineMetric(
+		"ingest_flows_processed",
+		"Number of flows received by the ingester",
+		operational.TypeCounter,
 		"stage",
 	)
 	batchSizeBytesSummary = operational.DefineMetric(
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ type metrics struct {
 	stageType      string
 	stageDuration  prometheus.Observer
 	latency        prometheus.Histogram
-	batchSize      prometheus.Summary
+	flowsProcessed prometheus.Counter
 	batchSizeBytes prometheus.Summary
 	errors         *prometheus.CounterVec
 }
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func newMetrics(opMetrics *operational.Metrics, stage, stageType string, inGauge
 		stageType:      stageType,
 		latency:        opMetrics.NewHistogram(&latencyHistogram, []float64{.001, .01, .1, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000}, stage),
 		stageDuration:  opMetrics.GetOrCreateStageDurationHisto().WithLabelValues(stage),
-		batchSize:      opMetrics.NewSummary(&batchSizeSummary, stage),
+		flowsProcessed: opMetrics.NewCounter(&flowsProcessedCounter, stage),
 		batchSizeBytes: opMetrics.NewSummary(&batchSizeBytesSummary, stage),
 		errors:         opMetrics.NewCounterVec(&errorsCounter),
 	}