diff --git a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.test.ts b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.test.ts
index 786294efbe0c2..6228fb489bdc6 100644
--- a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.test.ts
+++ b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.test.ts
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ describe('initTelemetry', () => {
           telemetry: { enabled: true, tracing: { enabled: false }, metrics: { enabled: false } },
           monitoring_collection: { enabled: true },
         },
-        ['@opentelemetry/instrumentation-runtime-node'],
+        [],
       ],
       [
         'telemetry metrics and monitoring collection metrics are enabled',
diff --git a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.ts b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.ts
index 4bad3a9a9278c..7ade73102273a 100644
--- a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.ts
+++ b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-telemetry/src/init_telemetry.ts
@@ -62,9 +62,6 @@ export const initTelemetry = (
     if (telemetryConfig.metrics.enabled || monitoringCollectionConfig.enabled) {
       initMetrics({ resource, metricsConfig: telemetryConfig.metrics, monitoringCollectionConfig });
 
-      // Provides metrics about the Event Loop, GC Collector, and Heap stats.
-      desiredInstrumentations.add('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-runtime-node');
-
       // Uncomment the ones below when we clarify the performance impact of having them enabled
       // // HTTP Server and Client durations
       // desiredInstrumentations.add('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-http');
@@ -72,6 +69,11 @@ export const initTelemetry = (
       // desiredInstrumentations.add('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-undici');
     }
 
+    if (telemetryConfig.metrics.enabled) {
+      // Provides metrics about the Event Loop, GC Collector, and Heap stats.
+      desiredInstrumentations.add('@opentelemetry/instrumentation-runtime-node');
+    }
+
     if (desiredInstrumentations.size > 0) {
       // register opted-in EDOT auto-instrumentations (node-runtime, http, hapi, and more)
       // https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/opentelemetry/edot-sdks/nodejs/supported-technologies#instrumentations