---
title: Ingest Prometheus metrics with Managed Inputs
description: Ingest Prometheus metrics into Elasticsearch using the Prometheus Remote Write protocol through the Elastic Cloud Managed Prometheus Remote Write Endpoint.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/opentelemetry/tree/main/reference/motlp/prometheus-remote-write
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Observability
applies_to:
  - Serverless Observability projects: Generally available
---

# Ingest Prometheus metrics with Managed Inputs
Managed Inputs supports ingesting metrics sent in the [Prometheus Remote Write v1](https://prometheus.io/docs/specs/remote_write_spec/) (PRW) protocol. Metrics flow through the same Kafka-backed pipeline as OTLP data and land in Elasticsearch time series data streams (TSDS), producing the same result as sending PRW directly to Elasticsearch.

## When to use PRW with Managed Inputs

Managed Inputs is the recommended ingestion path for all Elastic Cloud deployments. Use the Managed Prometheus Remote Write endpoint as your default when sending Prometheus metrics to Elastic Cloud Serverless projects. It provides:
- A single API key and ingest endpoint for all telemetry signals.
- Durable buffering, back-pressure, and retry on `429 Too Many Requests`.
- The same Prometheus-to-TSDS mapping as the native Elasticsearch PRW endpoint.

<warning>
  Sending PRW metrics directly to the [Elasticsearch Prometheus remote write endpoint](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/manage-data/data-store/data-streams/tsds-ingest-prometheus-remote-write) bypasses Managed Inputs and is not recommended for Elastic Cloud Serverless projects. Direct ingest uses different authentication, has no buffering, and skips any processing before data reaches Elasticsearch. Use direct ingest only for self-managed deployments where Managed Inputs is not available. Elastic Cloud Hosted support for the Managed Prometheus Remote Write endpoint is planned.
</warning>


## Prerequisites

- An Elastic Cloud Serverless Observability project.
- A Managed Inputs API key with the `event:write` privilege for the `apm` application. Refer to [Authentication](/elastic/opentelemetry/tree/main/reference/motlp#authentication) for the required key format and generation steps.


## Send Prometheus metrics through Managed Inputs

Follow these steps to configure Prometheus to send metrics to the Managed Prometheus Remote Write endpoint.
<stepper>
  <step title="Configure Prometheus">
    Add a `remote_write` entry to your Prometheus configuration:
    ```yaml
    remote_write:
      - url: https://<managed-inputs-endpoint>/api/v1/write
        authorization:
          type: ApiKey
          credentials: <api-key>
    ```
    To find `<managed-inputs-endpoint>`:
    1. Log in to the Elastic Cloud Console.
    2. Find your project and select **Manage**.
    3. In the **Application endpoints, cluster and component IDs** section, select **Ingest**.
    4. Copy the endpoint value and append `/api/v1/write`. For example: `https://<your-endpoint>.apm.elastic.cloud/api/v1/write`
  </step>

  <step title="Route metrics to custom data streams">
    By default, all PRW metrics land in `metrics-generic.prometheus-default`.To route to a custom data stream, attach the `data_stream_dataset` and `data_stream_namespace` labels to your time series:

    | Label                   | Sets                                        | Example      |
    |-------------------------|---------------------------------------------|--------------|
    | `data_stream_dataset`   | Dataset component of the data stream name   | `myapp`      |
    | `data_stream_namespace` | Namespace component of the data stream name | `production` |
    A time series with `data_stream_dataset: myapp` and `data_stream_namespace: production` routes to `metrics-myapp.prometheus-production`.In Prometheus, use `write_relabel_configs` to add these labels to every time series sent to a `remote_write` target:
    ```yaml
    remote_write:
      - url: https://<managed-inputs-endpoint>/api/v1/write
        authorization:
          type: ApiKey
          credentials: <api-key>
        write_relabel_configs:
          - target_label: data_stream_dataset
            replacement: myapp
          - target_label: data_stream_namespace
            replacement: production
    ```
  </step>
</stepper>


## How Prometheus data appears in Elasticsearch

Prometheus labels are mapped as TSDS dimensions in Elasticsearch, and metric types are inferred from naming conventions. For details on the full mapping behavior, refer to the [Elasticsearch Prometheus remote write endpoint](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/manage-data/data-store/data-streams/tsds-ingest-prometheus-remote-write) documentation.

## Limitations

- URL-path routing (for example, `/_prometheus/metrics/{dataset}/api/v1/write`) to custom data streams is not supported through Managed Inputs. Use [label-based routing](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/manage-data/data-store/data-streams/tsds-ingest-prometheus-remote-write#route-by-labels) instead.
- Available on Elastic Cloud Serverless only.
- Samples with non-finite values (NaN, Infinity) are silently dropped by Elasticsearch, and staleness markers are not supported.