diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 61bdf788a7..409ac759a4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ PGO runs containers with locked-down settings and provides Postgres credentials
 #### [Monitoring][monitoring]
 
 [Track the health of your PostgreSQL clusters][monitoring] using the open source [pgMonitor][] library.
+With OpenTelemetry metrics enabled, pgBackRest-derived backup metrics, including `last_info_backup_error`, refresh every 10 minutes and may be stale by up to 10 minutes. Alerting should account for this delay.
 
 #### [Upgrade Management][update-postgres]
 
diff --git a/internal/controller/postgrescluster/metrics_setup.sql b/internal/controller/postgrescluster/metrics_setup.sql
index 2d282643ce..1def1c3cbc 100644
--- a/internal/controller/postgrescluster/metrics_setup.sql
+++ b/internal/controller/postgrescluster/metrics_setup.sql
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ CREATE TABLE monitor.pg_stat_statements_reset_info(
    reset_time timestamptz
 );
 
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache;
+-- Table to cache pgBackRest info output and avoid frequent cloud egress.
+CREATE TABLE monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache(
+    collected_at timestamptz DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
+    data json NOT NULL
+);
+
 DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS monitor.pg_stat_statements_reset_info(int);
 -- Function to reset pg_stat_statements periodically
 CREATE FUNCTION monitor.pg_stat_statements_reset_info(p_throttle_minutes integer DEFAULT 1440)
@@ -89,6 +96,8 @@ DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS get_pgbackrest_info();
 --- get_pgbackrest_info is used by the OTel collector.
 --- get_pgbackrest_info is created as a function so that no ddl runs on a replica.
 --- In the query, the --stanza argument matches DefaultStanzaName, defined in internal/pgbackrest/config.go.
+--- To match legacy postgres_exporter behavior, pgbackrest info output is refreshed
+--- at most once every 10 minutes and cached in monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache.
 CREATE FUNCTION get_pgbackrest_info()
 RETURNS TABLE (
     last_diff_backup BIGINT,
@@ -102,6 +111,8 @@ RETURNS TABLE (
     oldest_full_backup BIGINT,
     repo TEXT
 ) AS $$
+DECLARE
+    v_collected_timestamp timestamptz;
 BEGIN
     IF pg_is_in_recovery() THEN
         RETURN QUERY
@@ -117,16 +128,45 @@ BEGIN
             0::bigint AS oldest_full_backup,
             'n/a' AS repo;
     ELSE
-        DROP TABLE IF EXISTS pgbackrest_info;
-        CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE pgbackrest_info (data json);
-        COPY pgbackrest_info (data)
-        FROM PROGRAM 'export LC_ALL=C && printf "\f" && pgbackrest info --log-level-console=info --log-level-stderr=warn --output=json --stanza=db && printf "\f"'
-        WITH (FORMAT csv, HEADER false, QUOTE E'\f');
+        SELECT max(collected_at)
+        INTO v_collected_timestamp
+        FROM monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache;
+
+        IF v_collected_timestamp IS NULL OR
+            CURRENT_TIMESTAMP - v_collected_timestamp > interval '10 minutes' THEN
+            IF pg_try_advisory_xact_lock(
+                hashtext('crunchydata.postgres-operator'),
+                hashtext('get_pgbackrest_info')
+            ) THEN
+                SELECT max(collected_at)
+                INTO v_collected_timestamp
+                FROM monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache;
+
+                IF v_collected_timestamp IS NULL OR
+                    CURRENT_TIMESTAMP - v_collected_timestamp > interval '10 minutes' THEN
+                    CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE IF NOT EXISTS pgbackrest_info_tmp (data json) ON COMMIT DROP;
+                    TRUNCATE TABLE pgbackrest_info_tmp;
+                    COPY pgbackrest_info_tmp (data)
+                    FROM PROGRAM 'export LC_ALL=C && printf "\f" && pgbackrest info --log-level-console=info --log-level-stderr=warn --output=json --stanza=db && printf "\f"'
+                    WITH (FORMAT csv, HEADER false, QUOTE E'\f');
+
+                    DELETE FROM monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache;
+                    IF EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM pgbackrest_info_tmp) THEN
+                        INSERT INTO monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache(collected_at, data)
+                        SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, data FROM pgbackrest_info_tmp;
+                    ELSE
+                        INSERT INTO monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache(collected_at, data)
+                        VALUES (CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, '[]'::json);
+                    END IF;
+                END IF;
+            END IF;
+        END IF;
 
         RETURN QUERY
         WITH
         all_backups (data) AS (
-            SELECT jsonb_array_elements(to_jsonb(data)) FROM pgbackrest_info
+            SELECT jsonb_array_elements(to_jsonb(data))
+            FROM monitor.pgbackrest_info_cache
         ),
         stanza_backups (stanza, backup) AS (
             SELECT data->>'name', jsonb_array_elements(data->'backup') FROM all_backups
diff --git a/internal/controller/postgrescluster/pgmonitor_test.go b/internal/controller/postgrescluster/pgmonitor_test.go
index aed23ab0d8..c375166ec6 100644
--- a/internal/controller/postgrescluster/pgmonitor_test.go
+++ b/internal/controller/postgrescluster/pgmonitor_test.go
@@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ func TestReconcileExporterSqlSetup(t *testing.T) {
 			ctx := feature.NewContext(ctx, gate)
 
 			if tc.otelMetricsEnabled {
-				cluster.Spec.Instrumentation = instrumentationSpec
+				cluster.Spec.Instrumentation = instrumentationSpec.DeepCopy()
 			}
 
 			if tc.exporterEnabled {
@@ -970,6 +970,14 @@ func TestReconcileExporterSqlSetup(t *testing.T) {
 				assert.NilError(t, err)
 			}
 			assert.Equal(t, setup == "", tc.setupEmpty)
+			if tc.otelMetricsEnabled {
+				assert.Assert(t, strings.Contains(setup, "CREATE FUNCTION get_pgbackrest_info()"))
+				assert.Assert(t, !strings.Contains(setup, "__PGBACKREST_INFO_THROTTLE_MINUTES__"))
+				assert.Assert(t, !strings.Contains(setup, "p_throttle_minutes"))
+				assert.Assert(t, strings.Contains(setup, "interval '10 minutes'"))
+				assert.Assert(t, strings.Contains(setup, "pg_try_advisory_xact_lock("))
+				assert.Assert(t, strings.Contains(setup, "VALUES (CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, '[]'::json)"))
+			}
 
 			assert.Equal(t, len(recorder.Events), tc.expectedNumEvents)
 			if tc.expectedNumEvents == 1 {