> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://axiom.co/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Send StatsD metrics to Axiom

> This page explains how to send StatsD metrics to Axiom using the StatsD receiver of the OpenTelemetry Collector.

StatsD is a simple push-based protocol for app metrics like counters, gauges, and timers. Axiom doesn’t provide a native StatsD listener. Instead, you send StatsD metrics to Axiom with the [StatsD receiver](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/statsdreceiver) of the OpenTelemetry Collector. The receiver listens for StatsD packets, aggregates them, and forwards the results to Axiom as OpenTelemetry metrics.

<Note>
  The StatsD receiver is part of the [contrib distribution](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases) of the OpenTelemetry Collector (`otelcol-contrib`). It isn’t included in the core distribution.
</Note>

## Prerequisites

* [Create an Axiom account](https://app.axiom.co/register).
* [Create a dataset in Axiom](/docs/reference/datasets#create-dataset) where you send your data.
* [Create an API token in Axiom](/docs/reference/tokens) with permissions to ingest data to the dataset you have created.

<Note>
  When you create the dataset, select **Metrics** as the dataset type. StatsD data arrives in Axiom as OTel metrics, and metrics require their own dedicated dataset. For more information, see [Create dataset](/docs/reference/datasets#create-dataset).
</Note>

## Configure the OpenTelemetry Collector

Add the StatsD receiver and an OTLP/HTTP exporter that sends data to Axiom:

```yaml theme={null}
receivers:
  statsd:
    endpoint: 0.0.0.0:8125    # UDP by default. Defaults to localhost:8125 if omitted.
    aggregation_interval: 60s # How often aggregated metrics are flushed to the exporter.

processors:
  batch:
    send_batch_max_size: 8192

exporters:
  otlphttp:
    compression: zstd
    endpoint: https://AXIOM_DOMAIN
    headers:
      authorization: Bearer API_TOKEN
      x-axiom-metrics-dataset: DATASET_NAME

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers:
        - statsd
      processors:
        - batch
      exporters:
        - otlphttp
```

<Info>
  Replace `AXIOM_DOMAIN` with the base domain of your edge deployment. For more information, see [Edge deployments](/docs/reference/edge-deployments).

  Replace `API_TOKEN` with the Axiom API token you have generated. For added security, store the API token in an environment variable.

  Replace `DATASET_NAME` with the name of the Axiom dataset where you send your data.

  For metrics, use the `x-axiom-metrics-dataset` header instead of `x-axiom-dataset`.
</Info>

Point your StatsD clients at the collector’s address and port (UDP 8125 in the example above) instead of your previous StatsD server.

## Send a test metric

With the collector running, send a test counter using netcat:

```shell theme={null}
echo -n "test.requests:1|c" | nc -u -w1 localhost 8125
```

After the next aggregation interval, the `test.requests` metric appears in your Metrics dataset in Axiom.

## Metric types

The StatsD receiver maps StatsD metric types to OpenTelemetry metric types:

| StatsD type                                       | OpenTelemetry type                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| :------------------------------------------------ | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Counter (`c`)                                     | Sum                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| Gauge (`g`)                                       | Gauge                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| Timer (`ms`), histogram (`h`), distribution (`d`) | Configurable with the receiver’s [`timer_histogram_mapping`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/receiver/statsdreceiver) option: `histogram`, `summary`, or `gauge` |

Axiom supports all of these resulting types. For the full list of supported OTel metric types and current limitations, see [Supported data types](/docs/query-data/metrics#supported-data-types).

## Query your metrics

Once data is flowing, query your StatsD metrics like any other OTel metrics in Axiom. For more information, see [Metrics](/docs/query-data/metrics).