diff --git a/cmd/tesseract/gcp/main.go b/cmd/tesseract/gcp/main.go
index 3730bff9..e7bd947c 100644
--- a/cmd/tesseract/gcp/main.go
+++ b/cmd/tesseract/gcp/main.go
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ var (
 	signerPrivateKeySecretName = flag.String("signer_private_key_secret_name", "", "Private key secret name for checkpoints and SCTs signer. Format: projects/{projectId}/secrets/{secretName}/versions/{secretVersion}.")
 	traceFraction              = flag.Float64("trace_fraction", 0, "Fraction of open-telemetry span traces to sample")
 	otelProjectID              = flag.String("otel_project_id", "", "GCP project ID for OpenTelemetry exporter.")
+	dropMetrics                = flag.String("drop_metrics", "", "Comma-separated list of OpenTelemetry metric name patterns to drop (e.g. 'rpc.client.*').")
 	slogLevel                  = flag.Int("slog_level", 0, "The cut-off threshold for structured logging. See cmd/tesseract/README.md#Logging.")
 	slogToCloudAPI             = flag.Bool("slog_to_cloud_api", true, "Export logs directly to Cloud Logging API. Required --otel_project_id to be set.")
 	slogToStdOut               = flag.Bool("slog_to_stdout", false, "Export logs to stdout.")
@@ -146,7 +147,7 @@ func main() {
 	initLogging(ctx)
 	defer flushLogs()
 
-	shutdownOTel := initOTel(ctx, *traceFraction, *origin, *otelProjectID)
+	shutdownOTel := initOTel(ctx, *traceFraction, *origin, *otelProjectID, *dropMetrics)
 	defer shutdownOTel(ctx)
 
 	signer, err := NewSecretManagerSigner(ctx, *signerPublicKeySecretName, *signerPrivateKeySecretName)
diff --git a/cmd/tesseract/gcp/otel.go b/cmd/tesseract/gcp/otel.go
index c15909fd..6f43b98b 100644
--- a/cmd/tesseract/gcp/otel.go
+++ b/cmd/tesseract/gcp/otel.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"log/slog"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	t_otel "github.com/transparency-dev/tesseract/internal/otel"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/detectors/gcp"
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ import (
 //
 // Tracing is enabled with statistical sampling, with the probability passed in.
 // Returns a shutdown function which should be called just before exiting the process.
-func initOTel(ctx context.Context, traceFraction float64, origin string, projectID string) func(context.Context) {
+func initOTel(ctx context.Context, traceFraction float64, origin string, projectID string, dropMetrics string) func(context.Context) {
 	var shutdownFuncs []func(context.Context) error
 	// shutdown combines shutdown functions from multiple OpenTelemetry
 	// components into a single function.
@@ -83,11 +84,22 @@ func initOTel(ctx context.Context, traceFraction float64, origin string, project
 		fatal(ctx, "Failed to create metric exporter", slog.Any("error", err))
 		return nil
 	}
-	// initialize a MeterProvider that periodically exports to the GCP exporter.
-	mp := sdkmetric.NewMeterProvider(
+	var meterOpts []sdkmetric.Option
+	meterOpts = append(meterOpts,
 		sdkmetric.WithReader(sdkmetric.NewPeriodicReader(me)),
 		sdkmetric.WithResource(resources),
 	)
+	for _, pattern := range strings.Split(dropMetrics, ",") {
+		pattern = strings.TrimSpace(pattern)
+		if pattern != "" {
+			meterOpts = append(meterOpts, sdkmetric.WithView(sdkmetric.NewView(
+				sdkmetric.Instrument{Name: pattern},
+				sdkmetric.Stream{Aggregation: sdkmetric.AggregationDrop{}},
+			)))
+		}
+	}
+	// initialize a MeterProvider that periodically exports to the GCP exporter.
+	mp := sdkmetric.NewMeterProvider(meterOpts...)
 	shutdownFuncs = append(shutdownFuncs, mp.Shutdown)
 	otel.SetMeterProvider(mp)
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 722691d2..663e4ec8 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -37,11 +37,11 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/exporters/autoexport v0.69.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp v0.69.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/runtime v0.69.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.44.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.44.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.44.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.44.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.44.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.45.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.45.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.45.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.45.0
+	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.45.0
 	golang.org/x/crypto v0.54.0
 	golang.org/x/mod v0.38.0
 	golang.org/x/net v0.57.0
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4 // indirect
 	github.com/gdamore/encoding v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 v4.1.4 // indirect
-	github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.3 // indirect
+	github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.4 // indirect
 	github.com/go-logr/stdr v1.2.2 // indirect
 	github.com/google/flatbuffers v25.2.10+incompatible // indirect
 	github.com/google/renameio/v2 v2.0.0 // indirect
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ require (
 	go.opencensus.io v0.24.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/auto/sdk v1.2.1 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/bridges/prometheus v0.69.0 // indirect
-	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.68.0 // indirect
+	go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.70.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploggrpc v0.20.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploghttp v0.20.0 // indirect
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlpmetric/otlpmetricgrpc v1.44.0 // indirect
@@ -155,6 +155,6 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/tools v0.47.0 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto v0.0.0-20260519071638-aa98bba5eb94 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20260630182238-925bb5da69e7 // indirect
-	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260724162435-b2f20204f0df // indirect
+	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260803160001-6ac0973c030d // indirect
 	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.11 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 5d75633f..3e9eabe0 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ github.com/gdamore/tcell/v2 v2.13.10/go.mod h1:+Wfe208WDdB7INEtCsNrAN6O2m+wsTPk1
 github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 v4.1.4 h1:moDMcTHmvE6Groj34emNPLs/qtYXRVcd6S7NHbHz3kA=
 github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 v4.1.4/go.mod h1:x4oUasVrzR7071A4TnHLGSPpNOm2a21K9Kf04k1rs08=
 github.com/go-logr/logr v1.2.2/go.mod h1:jdQByPbusPIv2/zmleS9BjJVeZ6kBagPoEUsqbVz/1A=
-github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.3 h1:CjnDlHq8ikf6E492q6eKboGOC0T8CDaOvkHCIg8idEI=
-github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.3/go.mod h1:9T104GzyrTigFIr8wt5mBrctHMim0Nb2HLGrmQ40KvY=
+github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.4 h1:tG4xh9yMsRCAiodLVTxyrkzSZ9+o0L1Kg/+cPVcbP/8=
+github.com/go-logr/logr v1.4.4/go.mod h1:9T104GzyrTigFIr8wt5mBrctHMim0Nb2HLGrmQ40KvY=
 github.com/go-logr/stdr v1.2.2 h1:hSWxHoqTgW2S2qGc0LTAI563KZ5YKYRhT3MFKZMbjag=
 github.com/go-logr/stdr v1.2.2/go.mod h1:mMo/vtBO5dYbehREoey6XUKy/eSumjCCveDpRre4VKE=
 github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.10.0 h1:Q+1LV8DkHJvSYAdR83XzuhDaTykuDx0l6fkXxoWCWfw=
@@ -308,14 +308,14 @@ go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/detectors/gcp v1.44.0 h1:NmLfL734pJhM0JKaYd2Y28+nY9d
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/detectors/gcp v1.44.0/go.mod h1:tNAsgd8avTGke1+MndXlU5Cru4PQ9Ai/cCNWQv/ZJ/s=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/exporters/autoexport v0.69.0 h1:R3jsCoTIzv0BiYNhW0axyswn/6SMJ8xL1OuGxvni1Kw=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/exporters/autoexport v0.69.0/go.mod h1:m07gqyr2QhQxKOKb5vqKCCBtLH3uqlNYR7PU/FISXVU=
-go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.68.0 h1:0Qx7VGBacMm9ZENQ7TnNObTYI4ShC+lHI16seduaxZo=
-go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.68.0/go.mod h1:Sje3i3MjSPKTSPvVWCaL8ugBzJwik3u4smCjUeuupqg=
+go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.70.0 h1:oECp5f+hN7nkwjU/8BxQ/q23bGPb8FIrD839owX222E=
+go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/google.golang.org/grpc/otelgrpc v0.70.0/go.mod h1:DqEFwLumhzMBDQv9PcWbyoDxHI/4lAk6CM4nJBH39sc=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp v0.69.0 h1:8tvICD4vSTOOsNrsI4Ljf6C+6UKvpTEH5XY3JMoyPoo=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp v0.69.0/go.mod h1:z9+yiacE0IHRqM4qFfkbt/JYlmYXgss8GY/jXoNuPJI=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/runtime v0.69.0 h1:MtkMsuRo3zEXTTMALfyrszwCDZTkB6wolyPjbwFAdq0=
 go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/runtime v0.69.0/go.mod h1:FYTxnpsm+UPD0erZNq20GvnM8T2YQHiHtT2vokdpoac=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.44.0 h1:JjwHmHpA4iZ3wBxluu2fbbE7j4kqlE8jXyAyPXH7HqU=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.44.0/go.mod h1:BMgjTHL9WPRlRjL2oZCBTL4whCGtXch2H4BhOPIAyYc=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.45.0 h1:pdrWmLHofpubmArBv1LgFSv1Z0Ie/ppdZzu+kUN5EeU=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.45.0/go.mod h1:XZxIqPapzEYnhNSScF5DIqXhm/rYi0FzCe2XddAwZfQ=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploggrpc v0.20.0 h1:rydZ9sxbcFdm/oWrVyfLTjHIygMgv0bEeMd+3B/BvoM=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploggrpc v0.20.0/go.mod h1:earQ25dooT0Hhspq59DZ8YCC50jWfOlFEeWoxy/P444=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlplog/otlploghttp v0.20.0 h1:owlhcJ3QO3X0YTDTCcDZ4V+6aVDkWbNmBoQ5NUp7Oww=
@@ -340,20 +340,20 @@ go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/stdout/stdouttrace v1.44.0 h1:bl2S7Ubua0Nms+D
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/stdout/stdouttrace v1.44.0/go.mod h1:L0hRV50XdVIODHUfWEqGRCXQvj2rV82STVo12FMFBU0=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/log v0.20.0 h1:/5i0vuHxCLWUfChWG41K9wkM0jafruPw9NU1/RCJirs=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/log v0.20.0/go.mod h1:wOcMcjsZpG8x7Bak7IhSi/lg8wscV2C1VdrKCLPlt0E=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.44.0 h1:1w0gILTcHdr3YI+ixLyjemwrVnsMURbTZFrSYCdDdmc=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.44.0/go.mod h1:8O7hanEPBNgEMmybD3s2VBKcgWOCsA6tzHBPODAiquo=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/x v0.66.0 h1:YkCrx1zLOChi9ZcZ6euupOcsgzbVlec7D/xoEU1+cTA=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/x v0.66.0/go.mod h1:d1+BDj9t96do0/1LoU1ayfCv79ZgNE41qbhBvnMOBZk=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.44.0 h1:nHYwb9lK+fJPU/dnT6s7W7Z8itMWyqrnVfbheVYrZ58=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.44.0/go.mod h1:Osuydd3Se74nqjAKxid74N5eC+jfEqfTegHRnq58oK0=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.45.0 h1:7Eg1uH7CJ5cXv9is6tnBe1FI6rj1nwUdbFypRm3br/M=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.45.0/go.mod h1:HAPbm1nd3p1PmFH7v2dR+6BjXxw+Lq4a2+pndMAm08s=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/x v0.67.0 h1:PcicCNZFkZ4bXfSooXdo3WN7RBOVOtjVdo1wD358Uns=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/x v0.67.0/go.mod h1:FBjCWZe6wgcqxcMtjdGiClDKXb2YxxXii0CXftE4QtI=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.45.0 h1:4VVSMgQ83dUgW2aoX5f6JgLvHwIvzcuLnF9lUdCSpCw=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.45.0/go.mod h1:Sr40LgXV7DsKMMJMKOhUWOgMWTfAaqvm2kF0g7ilwuA=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log v0.20.0 h1:vM3xI7TQgKPiSghe6urZtAkyFY7SodrSpC83CffDFuY=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log v0.20.0/go.mod h1:Knej2nmsTUzN79T2eeXdRsjjPcoxoq2pUyUHz9TFyyU=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log/logtest v0.20.0 h1:OqdRZ1guyzamK3M6LlRsmGqRrjkHWw6WZOKKli5ELpg=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log/logtest v0.20.0/go.mod h1:PuMIlm7zAt7c3z8zfOI5ox4iT1Z87We+PF6YoINux/M=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.44.0 h1:3LlKgI+VjbVsjNRFZJZAJ30WjXC5VkNRks6si09iEfI=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.44.0/go.mod h1:5B5pMARnXxKhltooO4xUuCBorl65a4EpnTalObqOigA=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.44.0 h1:jxF5CsGYCe74MCRx2X4g7WsY/VBKRqqpNvXlX/6gtIk=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.44.0/go.mod h1:oLl1jrMQAVo6v3GAggN+1VH9VIz9iUSvW53sW1Q8PIE=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.45.0 h1:oVFszMfyj1Am6s24Vtc7wBb8BKLcwepJjNEYILuiE3o=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.45.0/go.mod h1:vUWUxDZvu1WVRj8JA8S0AdhsPrZoDpA2DdZauIh4mDA=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.45.0 h1:l/mP6Uv7oNO7/TblbhpbgMidxhq1uO/rPsikOyVhxag=
+go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.45.0/go.mod h1:qoJJA2xNMnxRrdISU/kLtfUH2wNeQbiv+jhs/CxI8bc=
 go.opentelemetry.io/proto/otlp v1.10.0 h1:IQRWgT5srOCYfiWnpqUYz9CVmbO8bFmKcwYxpuCSL2g=
 go.opentelemetry.io/proto/otlp v1.10.0/go.mod h1:/CV4QoCR/S9yaPj8utp3lvQPoqMtxXdzn7ozvvozVqk=
 go.shabbyrobe.org/gocovmerge v0.0.0-20230507111327-fa4f82cfbf4d h1:Ns9kd1Rwzw7t0BR8XMphenji4SmIoNZPn8zhYmaVKP8=
@@ -454,8 +454,8 @@ google.golang.org/genproto v0.0.0-20260519071638-aa98bba5eb94 h1:YJjbgu+dkp5kUJL
 google.golang.org/genproto v0.0.0-20260519071638-aa98bba5eb94/go.mod h1:RRHjglSYABVCWpQ7USCpdfhcd9t4PkajvVwyynZizTc=
 google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20260630182238-925bb5da69e7 h1:jQ9p21COKWjP3VwuFrNRiiOTMh3mPpN45R7SLrH/HUU=
 google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20260630182238-925bb5da69e7/go.mod h1:KqHwBx2upmfa1XSi1WuRvC+2VGCLtooKkfmyvRbUmqA=
-google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260724162435-b2f20204f0df h1:O3ig1i5WDDzsVzRp+cCdgelT9vXnlnOFdlEeFtL4HCc=
-google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260724162435-b2f20204f0df/go.mod h1:4Hqkh8ycfw05ld/3BWL7rJOSfebL2Q+DVDeRgYgxUU8=
+google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260803160001-6ac0973c030d h1:IL4hdHzcUv2l/gcg98/Rj3FbtE6axwqslOW8SW0C+S0=
+google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20260803160001-6ac0973c030d/go.mod h1:4Hqkh8ycfw05ld/3BWL7rJOSfebL2Q+DVDeRgYgxUU8=
 google.golang.org/grpc v1.19.0/go.mod h1:mqu4LbDTu4XGKhr4mRzUsmM4RtVoemTSY81AxZiDr8c=
 google.golang.org/grpc v1.23.0/go.mod h1:Y5yQAOtifL1yxbo5wqy6BxZv8vAUGQwXBOALyacEbxg=
 google.golang.org/grpc v1.25.1/go.mod h1:c3i+UQWmh7LiEpx4sFZnkU36qjEYZ0imhYfXVyQciAY=