diff --git a/docs/apidiffs/current_vs_latest/prometheus-metrics-core.txt b/docs/apidiffs/current_vs_latest/prometheus-metrics-core.txt
index ffb4a1d52..136f7f6f1 100644
--- a/docs/apidiffs/current_vs_latest/prometheus-metrics-core.txt
+++ b/docs/apidiffs/current_vs_latest/prometheus-metrics-core.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 Comparing source compatibility of prometheus-metrics-core-1.8.1-SNAPSHOT.jar against prometheus-metrics-core-1.8.0.jar
 ***  MODIFIED CLASS: PUBLIC io.prometheus.metrics.core.exemplars.ExemplarSampler  (not serializable)
 	===  CLASS FILE FORMAT VERSION: 52.0 <- 52.0
+***  MODIFIED CLASS: PUBLIC io.prometheus.metrics.core.metrics.Histogram$DataPoint  (not serializable)
+	===  CLASS FILE FORMAT VERSION: 52.0 <- 52.0
 
diff --git a/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/ClassicOnlyAccumulator.java b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/ClassicOnlyAccumulator.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e4f5b30ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/ClassicOnlyAccumulator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+package io.prometheus.metrics.core.metrics;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentLinkedQueue;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
+
+/**
+ * Experimental accumulator for classic-only histogram data points.
+ *
+ * <p>Each recording thread owns a cell with two buffers. A snapshot advances the global epoch,
+ * waits only for observations that had already entered the previous epoch, and then drains the
+ * inactive buffers. Recording threads therefore never contend on a shared monitor.
+ *
+ * <p>Cells are retained for the lifetime of the data point so observations made by short-lived
+ * threads remain available to later snapshots. A cell is static and does not reference its owning
+ * accumulator, so a thread-local value cannot retain a removed or cleared data point.
+ */
+@SuppressWarnings("ThreadLocalUsage")
+final class ClassicOnlyAccumulator {
+
+  private static final long NOT_WRITING = -1;
+
+  private final int bucketCount;
+  private final AtomicLong epoch = new AtomicLong();
+  private final ConcurrentLinkedQueue<Cell> cells = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue<>();
+  private final ThreadLocal<Cell> threadCell =
+      new ThreadLocal<Cell>() {
+        @Override
+        protected Cell initialValue() {
+          Cell cell = new Cell(bucketCount);
+          cells.add(cell);
+          return cell;
+        }
+      };
+
+  // Accessed only while holding this accumulator's monitor.
+  private final long[] collectedBuckets;
+  private long collectedCount;
+  private double collectedSum;
+
+  ClassicOnlyAccumulator(int bucketCount) {
+    this.bucketCount = bucketCount;
+    this.collectedBuckets = new long[bucketCount];
+  }
+
+  void observe(int bucket, double value) {
+    Cell cell = threadCell.get();
+    while (true) {
+      long observedEpoch = epoch.get();
+      cell.writingEpoch = observedEpoch;
+      if (epoch.get() != observedEpoch) {
+        cell.writingEpoch = NOT_WRITING;
+        continue;
+      }
+      try {
+        CellBuffer buffer = cell.buffers[(int) (observedEpoch & 1)];
+        buffer.buckets[bucket]++;
+        buffer.sum += value;
+        buffer.count++;
+        return;
+      } finally {
+        // Publishes all plain writes above to a snapshot waiting on writingEpoch.
+        cell.writingEpoch = NOT_WRITING;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  @SuppressWarnings("ThreadPriorityCheck")
+  synchronized Snapshot snapshot() {
+    long inactiveEpoch = epoch.getAndIncrement();
+    int inactiveBuffer = (int) (inactiveEpoch & 1);
+
+    for (Cell cell : cells) {
+      while (cell.writingEpoch == inactiveEpoch) {
+        Thread.yield();
+      }
+      CellBuffer buffer = cell.buffers[inactiveBuffer];
+      for (int i = 0; i < bucketCount; i++) {
+        collectedBuckets[i] += buffer.buckets[i];
+        buffer.buckets[i] = 0;
+      }
+      collectedCount += buffer.count;
+      collectedSum += buffer.sum;
+      buffer.count = 0;
+      buffer.sum = 0;
+    }
+
+    return new Snapshot(collectedBuckets.clone(), collectedCount, collectedSum);
+  }
+
+  private static final class Cell {
+    private final CellBuffer[] buffers;
+    private volatile long writingEpoch = NOT_WRITING;
+
+    private Cell(int bucketCount) {
+      buffers = new CellBuffer[] {new CellBuffer(bucketCount), new CellBuffer(bucketCount)};
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static final class CellBuffer {
+    private final long[] buckets;
+    private long count;
+    private double sum;
+
+    private CellBuffer(int bucketCount) {
+      buckets = new long[bucketCount];
+    }
+  }
+
+  static final class Snapshot {
+    final long[] buckets;
+    final long count;
+    final double sum;
+
+    private Snapshot(long[] buckets, long count, double sum) {
+      this.buckets = buckets;
+      this.count = count;
+      this.sum = sum;
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/Histogram.java b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/Histogram.java
index c4bb1f5fe..5ead70345 100644
--- a/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/Histogram.java
+++ b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/main/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/Histogram.java
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ public class DataPoint implements DistributionDataPoint {
     private final LongAdder nativeZeroCount = new LongAdder();
     private final LongAdder count = new LongAdder();
     private final DoubleAdder sum = new DoubleAdder();
+    @Nullable private final ClassicOnlyAccumulator classicOnlyAccumulator;
     private volatile int nativeSchema =
         nativeInitialSchema; // integer in [-4, 8] or CLASSIC_HISTOGRAM
     private volatile double nativeZeroThreshold = Histogram.this.nativeMinZeroThreshold;
@@ -223,16 +224,24 @@ private DataPoint() {
       for (int i = 0; i < classicUpperBounds.length; i++) {
         classicBuckets[i] = new LongAdder();
       }
+      classicOnlyAccumulator =
+          isClassicOnly() ? new ClassicOnlyAccumulator(classicUpperBounds.length) : null;
       maybeScheduleNextReset();
     }
 
     @Override
     public double getSum() {
+      if (classicOnlyAccumulator != null) {
+        return classicOnlyAccumulator.snapshot().sum;
+      }
       return sum.sum();
     }
 
     @Override
     public long getCount() {
+      if (classicOnlyAccumulator != null) {
+        return classicOnlyAccumulator.snapshot().count;
+      }
       return count.sum();
     }
 
@@ -242,7 +251,9 @@ public void observe(double value) {
         // See https://github.com/prometheus/client_golang/issues/1275 on ignoring NaN observations.
         return;
       }
-      if (!buffer.append(value)) {
+      if (classicOnlyAccumulator != null) {
+        classicOnlyAccumulator.observe(findClassicBucket(value), value);
+      } else if (!buffer.append(value)) {
         doObserve(value, false);
       }
       if (exemplarSampler != null) {
@@ -256,7 +267,9 @@ public void observeWithExemplar(double value, Labels labels) {
         // See https://github.com/prometheus/client_golang/issues/1275 on ignoring NaN observations.
         return;
       }
-      if (!buffer.append(value)) {
+      if (classicOnlyAccumulator != null) {
+        classicOnlyAccumulator.observe(findClassicBucket(value), value);
+      } else if (!buffer.append(value)) {
         doObserve(value, false);
       }
       if (exemplarSampler != null) {
@@ -266,12 +279,8 @@ public void observeWithExemplar(double value, Labels labels) {
 
     private void doObserve(double value, boolean fromBuffer) {
       // classicUpperBounds is an empty array if this is a native histogram only.
-      for (int i = 0; i < classicUpperBounds.length; ++i) {
-        // The last bucket is +Inf, so we always increment.
-        if (value <= classicUpperBounds[i]) {
-          classicBuckets[i].add(1);
-          break;
-        }
+      if (classicUpperBounds.length > 0) {
+        classicBuckets[findClassicBucket(value)].add(1);
       }
       boolean nativeBucketCreated = false;
       if (Histogram.this.nativeInitialSchema != CLASSIC_HISTOGRAM) {
@@ -301,6 +310,15 @@ private void doObserve(double value, boolean fromBuffer) {
 
     private HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot collect(Labels labels) {
       Exemplars exemplars = exemplarSampler != null ? exemplarSampler.collect() : Exemplars.EMPTY;
+      if (classicOnlyAccumulator != null) {
+        ClassicOnlyAccumulator.Snapshot snapshot = classicOnlyAccumulator.snapshot();
+        return new HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot(
+            ClassicHistogramBuckets.of(classicUpperBounds, snapshot.buckets),
+            snapshot.sum,
+            labels,
+            exemplars,
+            createdTimeMillis);
+      }
       return buffer.run(
           expectedCount -> count.sum() == expectedCount,
           () -> {
@@ -342,6 +360,20 @@ private HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot collect(Labels labels) {
           v -> doObserve(v, true));
     }
 
+    private boolean isClassicOnly() {
+      return Histogram.this.nativeInitialSchema == CLASSIC_HISTOGRAM;
+    }
+
+    private int findClassicBucket(double value) {
+      for (int i = 0; i < classicUpperBounds.length; ++i) {
+        // The last bucket is +Inf, so we always return from this loop.
+        if (value <= classicUpperBounds[i]) {
+          return i;
+        }
+      }
+      throw new IllegalStateException("Classic histogram is missing the +Inf bucket.");
+    }
+
     private boolean addToNativeBucket(double value, ConcurrentHashMap<Integer, LongAdder> buckets) {
       boolean newBucketCreated = false;
       int bucketIndex;
diff --git a/prometheus-metrics-core/src/test/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/HistogramTest.java b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/test/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/HistogramTest.java
index cbfd5fade..127fd6a3e 100644
--- a/prometheus-metrics-core/src/test/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/HistogramTest.java
+++ b/prometheus-metrics-core/src/test/java/io/prometheus/metrics/core/metrics/HistogramTest.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.LongAdder;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
@@ -1598,6 +1599,117 @@ void testObserveMultithreaded()
     assertThat(executor.awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void testClassicOnlyCollectWhileObserversAreRunning() throws Exception {
+    Histogram histogram = Histogram.builder().name("test").classicOnly().build();
+    DistributionDataPoint dataPoint = histogram.labelValues();
+    int observerCount = 8;
+    int observationsPerThread = 25_000;
+    ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(observerCount + 1);
+    CountDownLatch ready = new CountDownLatch(observerCount);
+    CountDownLatch start = new CountDownLatch(1);
+    AtomicBoolean observersFinished = new AtomicBoolean();
+    List<Future<?>> observers = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < observerCount; i++) {
+      observers.add(
+          executor.submit(
+              () -> {
+                ready.countDown();
+                start.await();
+                for (int observation = 0; observation < observationsPerThread; observation++) {
+                  dataPoint.observe(1.25);
+                }
+                return null;
+              }));
+    }
+
+    Future<?> collector =
+        executor.submit(
+            () -> {
+              long previousCount = 0;
+              start.await();
+              while (!observersFinished.get()) {
+                HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot snapshot =
+                    histogram.collect().getDataPoints().get(0);
+                assertClassicOnlySnapshotIsCoherent(snapshot, previousCount);
+                previousCount = snapshot.getCount();
+              }
+              return null;
+            });
+
+    assertThat(ready.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
+    start.countDown();
+    for (Future<?> observer : observers) {
+      observer.get(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    }
+    observersFinished.set(true);
+    collector.get(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+    HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot snapshot =
+        histogram.collect().getDataPoints().get(0);
+    assertClassicOnlySnapshotIsCoherent(snapshot, observerCount * observationsPerThread);
+    assertThat(dataPoint.getCount()).isEqualTo(observerCount * observationsPerThread);
+    assertThat(dataPoint.getSum())
+        .isCloseTo(observerCount * observationsPerThread * 1.25, offset(0.000_001));
+
+    executor.shutdown();
+    assertThat(executor.awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void testClassicOnlyRetainsShortLivedThreadCellsAndClearCreatesFreshDataPoint() throws Exception {
+    Histogram histogram =
+        Histogram.builder().name("test").classicOnly().labelNames("status").build();
+    DistributionDataPoint oldDataPoint = histogram.labelValues("200");
+    int threadCount = 100;
+    ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(threadCount);
+    CountDownLatch start = new CountDownLatch(1);
+    List<Future<?>> observations = new ArrayList<>();
+    for (int i = 0; i < threadCount; i++) {
+      observations.add(
+          executor.submit(
+              () -> {
+                start.await();
+                oldDataPoint.observe(2.0);
+                return null;
+              }));
+    }
+    start.countDown();
+    for (Future<?> observation : observations) {
+      observation.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    }
+    executor.shutdown();
+    assertThat(executor.awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)).isTrue();
+
+    assertThat(oldDataPoint.getCount()).isEqualTo(threadCount);
+    assertThat(oldDataPoint.getSum()).isEqualTo(threadCount * 2.0);
+    assertThat(getBucket(histogram, 2.5, "status", "200").getCount()).isEqualTo(threadCount);
+
+    histogram.clear();
+    DistributionDataPoint newDataPoint = histogram.labelValues("200");
+    assertThat(newDataPoint).isNotSameAs(oldDataPoint);
+    assertThat(newDataPoint.getCount()).isZero();
+    assertThat(newDataPoint.getSum()).isZero();
+
+    newDataPoint.observe(3.0);
+    assertThat(newDataPoint.getCount()).isOne();
+    assertThat(newDataPoint.getSum()).isEqualTo(3.0);
+    assertThat(oldDataPoint.getCount()).isEqualTo(threadCount);
+    assertThat(oldDataPoint.getSum()).isEqualTo(threadCount * 2.0);
+  }
+
+  private static void assertClassicOnlySnapshotIsCoherent(
+      HistogramSnapshot.HistogramDataPointSnapshot snapshot, long minimumCount) {
+    assertThat(snapshot.getCount()).isGreaterThanOrEqualTo(minimumCount);
+    assertThat(snapshot.getSum()).isCloseTo(snapshot.getCount() * 1.25, offset(0.000_001));
+    long bucketTotal = 0;
+    for (ClassicHistogramBucket bucket : snapshot.getClassicBuckets()) {
+      bucketTotal += bucket.getCount();
+    }
+    assertThat(bucketTotal).isEqualTo(snapshot.getCount());
+  }
+
   @Test
   void testNativeResetDuration() {
     // Test that nativeResetDuration can be configured without error and the histogram