diff --git a/src/metrics/databaseMetrics.ts b/src/metrics/databaseMetrics.ts
index b37bc21..b7992c8 100644
--- a/src/metrics/databaseMetrics.ts
+++ b/src/metrics/databaseMetrics.ts
@@ -1,29 +1,101 @@
-import { IStorageManager, Version } from '@verdaccio/types';
+import { promisify } from 'util';
+
+import { IStorageManager, IPluginStorage, ReadPackageCallback, Package } from '@verdaccio/types';
 import { Registry, Gauge } from 'prom-client';
 
 import { MetricsConfig } from '../types';
 
+// This is much like getLocalDatabase except:
+// 1) it returns the full payloads instead of removing useful info on versions
+//    (needed to report total # of known versions in local database)
+// 2) it's a proper async generator instead of messy bulk-result callback soup
+// Original getLocalDatabase function here:
+// https://github.com/verdaccio/verdaccio/blob/93468211d6ec64e2f9612b1a83410bd712a51471/src/lib/storage.ts#L423
+async function* iterateLocalDatabase(
+  storage: IStorageManager<MetricsConfig>
+): AsyncGenerator<Package, undefined, undefined> {
+  // Try getting the backing store directly, which isn't in the shared type definitions
+  const storagePlugin = (storage as { localStorage?: { storagePlugin?: IPluginStorage<MetricsConfig> } }).localStorage
+    ?.storagePlugin;
+  // Ok to just bail quietly if we can't figure this out
+  if (!storagePlugin) {
+    throw new Error(`No storage plugin found on storage manager`);
+  }
+
+  // promisify/wrap the loader funcs
+  const getPkgList = promisify(storagePlugin.get.bind(storagePlugin)) as () => Promise<Array<string>>;
+  const getPkgMetadata = promisify((name: string, cb: ReadPackageCallback) => {
+    const storage = storagePlugin.getPackageStorage(name);
+    if (!storage) {
+      throw new Error(`No package storage found for ${name}`);
+    }
+    storage.readPackage(name, cb);
+  });
+
+  // do the async fetching loop
+  const packageList = await getPkgList();
+  for (const packageName of packageList) {
+    const packageMeta = await getPkgMetadata(packageName);
+    if (packageMeta) {
+      yield packageMeta;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return;
+}
+
 export function collectDatabaseMetrics(storage: IStorageManager<MetricsConfig>, registry: Registry): () => void {
-  // TODO: add more metrics for the local database
+  // We delay registering these metrics until they have their first datapoint
+  let isRegistered = false;
 
-  const packageVersionsName = 'database_package_versions_count';
-  const packageVersions = new Gauge({
-    name: packageVersionsName,
-    help: 'number of local package versions in local database',
-    registers: [registry],
+  const packageCount = new Gauge({
+    name: 'database_packages_count',
+    help: 'number of local packages in local database',
+    registers: [],
+  });
+  const packageVersionsCount = new Gauge({
+    name: 'database_versions_count',
+    help: 'number of local versions in local database across all packages',
+    registers: [],
   });
+  const maxVersionsCount = new Gauge({
+    name: 'database_max_package_versions_count',
+    help: 'highest number of versions associated with a single local package',
+    registers: [],
+  });
+
+  async function reportDatabaseGauges(): Promise<void> {
+    try {
+      let allPackages = 0;
+      let allVersions = 0;
+      let mostVersions = 0;
+      for await (const pkg of iterateLocalDatabase(storage)) {
+        const versionCount = Object.keys(pkg.versions ?? {}).length;
+        allPackages++;
+        allVersions += versionCount;
+        mostVersions = Math.max(mostVersions, versionCount);
+      }
+      packageCount.set(allPackages);
+      packageVersionsCount.set(allVersions);
+      maxVersionsCount.set(mostVersions);
 
-  function reportDatabaseGauges(): void {
-    storage.getLocalDatabase(function(err: unknown, packages: Version[]) {
-      if (err) {
-        packageVersions.reset();
-      } else {
-        packageVersions.set(packages.length);
+      if (!isRegistered) {
+        registry.registerMetric(packageCount);
+        registry.registerMetric(packageVersionsCount);
+        registry.registerMetric(maxVersionsCount);
+        isRegistered = true;
       }
-    });
+    } catch (err) {
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+      console.error(`WARN: Failed to collect database metrics due to`, err.stack);
+      packageCount.reset();
+      packageVersionsCount.reset();
+      maxVersionsCount.reset();
+    }
   }
 
-  setTimeout(reportDatabaseGauges, 500);
-  const timer = setInterval(reportDatabaseGauges, 60 * 60 * 1000); // hourly
+  setTimeout(reportDatabaseGauges, 5 * 1000); // first run a few seconds after startup
+  const unstampede = Math.round(Math.random() * 5 * 60 * 1000); // up to 5 minutes late ...
+  const timer = setInterval(reportDatabaseGauges, 60 * 60 * 1000 + unstampede); // ... hourly
   return (): void => clearInterval(timer);
 }