diff --git a/metrics/src/server.rs b/metrics/src/server.rs
index cd6e75e9..2742b5c3 100644
--- a/metrics/src/server.rs
+++ b/metrics/src/server.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
     gather_metrics: impl Fn() -> Vec<u8> + Clone + Send + 'static,
     is_health_check: impl Fn() -> bool + Clone + Send + 'static,
     is_ready_check: impl Fn() -> bool + Clone + Send + 'static,
+    get_subscribers: impl Fn() -> usize + Clone + Send + 'static,
     shutdown: impl Future<Output = ()> + Send + 'static,
 ) -> std::io::Result<impl Future<Output = Result<(), JoinError>>> {
     let listener = TcpListener::bind(endpoint).await?;
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
             let gather_metrics = gather_metrics.clone();
             let is_health_check = is_health_check.clone();
             let is_ready_check = is_ready_check.clone();
+            let get_subscribers = get_subscribers.clone();
             tokio::spawn(async move {
                 if let Err(error) = ServerBuilder::new(TokioExecutor::new())
                     .serve_connection(
@@ -54,6 +56,7 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
                             let gather_metrics = gather_metrics.clone();
                             let is_health_check = is_health_check.clone();
                             let is_ready_check = is_ready_check.clone();
+                            let get_subscribers = get_subscribers.clone();
                             async move {
                                 let (status, bytes) = match req.uri().path() {
                                     "/health" => {
@@ -77,6 +80,10 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
                                             )
                                         }
                                     }
+                                    "/subscribers" => (
+                                        StatusCode::OK,
+                                        Bytes::from(get_subscribers().to_string()),
+                                    ),
                                     _ => (StatusCode::NOT_FOUND, Bytes::new()),
                                 };
 
diff --git a/plugin-agave/src/metrics.rs b/plugin-agave/src/metrics.rs
index 2e9e1e06..fcd1cbf8 100644
--- a/plugin-agave/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/plugin-agave/src/metrics.rs
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
         move || handle.render().into_bytes(), // metrics
         || true,                              // health
         || true,                              // ready
+        || 0,                                 // subscribers (not applicable to plugin)
         shutdown,
     )
     .await
diff --git a/richat/src/grpc/server.rs b/richat/src/grpc/server.rs
index e5c3f38b..86287008 100644
--- a/richat/src/grpc/server.rs
+++ b/richat/src/grpc/server.rs
@@ -833,6 +833,7 @@ impl Drop for SubscribeClientState {
         );
         gauge!(metrics::GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_TOTAL, "x_subscription_id" => Arc::clone(&self.x_subscription_id))
             .decrement(1);
+        metrics::GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_COUNT.fetch_sub(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
     }
 }
 
@@ -845,6 +846,7 @@ impl SubscribeClientState {
         );
         gauge!(metrics::GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_TOTAL, "x_subscription_id" => Arc::clone(&x_subscription_id))
             .increment(1);
+        metrics::GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_COUNT.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
 
         let metric_cpu_usage = gauge!(
             metrics::GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_CPU_SECONDS_TOTAL,
diff --git a/richat/src/metrics.rs b/richat/src/metrics.rs
index 3f31e24a..4a38cd46 100644
--- a/richat/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/richat/src/metrics.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use {
         future::Future,
         sync::{
             Arc,
-            atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering},
+            atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicUsize, Ordering},
         },
     },
     tokio::{
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ use {
     tracing::error,
 };
 
+/// Active gRPC subscribers. Incremented in `SubscribeClientState::new()`,
+/// decremented in its `Drop`. Read by the `/subscribers` HTTP endpoint so
+/// an external load-balancer weighting loop can size origin weights by
+/// current load.
+pub static GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_COUNT: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+
 pub const BLOCK_MESSAGE_FAILED: &str = "block_message_failed"; // reason
 pub const CHANNEL_EVENTS_RECEIVED: &str = "channel_events_received"; // source, type
 pub const CHANNEL_SLOT: &str = "channel_slot"; // commitment
@@ -159,6 +165,7 @@ pub async fn spawn_server(
         move || handle.render().into_bytes(),     // metrics
         || true,                                  // health
         move || is_ready.load(Ordering::Relaxed), // ready
+        || GRPC_SUBSCRIBE_COUNT.load(Ordering::Relaxed), // subscribers
         shutdown,
     )
     .await