diff --git a/synapse/metrics/__init__.py b/synapse/metrics/__init__.py
index 2ed82b04a5..2666f982a6 100644
--- a/synapse/metrics/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/metrics/__init__.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from twisted.internet import reactor
 
 from .metric import (
     CounterMetric, CallbackMetric, DistributionMetric, CacheMetric,
-    MemoryUsageMetric,
+    MemoryUsageMetric, GaugeMetric,
 )
 from .process_collector import register_process_collector
 
@@ -65,6 +65,13 @@ class Metrics(object):
         """
         return self._register(CounterMetric, *args, **kwargs)
 
+    def register_gauge(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Returns:
+            GaugeMetric
+        """
+        return self._register(GaugeMetric, *args, **kwargs)
+
     def register_callback(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """
         Returns:
diff --git a/synapse/metrics/metric.py b/synapse/metrics/metric.py
index ff5aa8c0e1..9ebf2d6fdb 100644
--- a/synapse/metrics/metric.py
+++ b/synapse/metrics/metric.py
@@ -145,6 +145,36 @@ class CounterMetric(BaseMetric):
         )
 
 
+class GaugeMetric(BaseMetric):
+    """A metric that can go up or down
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(GaugeMetric, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        # dict[list[str]]: value for each set of label values. the keys are the
+        # label values, in the same order as the labels in self.labels.
+        #
+        # (if the metric is a scalar, the (single) key is the empty list).
+        self.guages = {}
+
+    def set(self, v, *values):
+        if len(values) != self.dimension():
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Expected as many values to inc() as labels (%d)" % (self.dimension())
+            )
+
+        # TODO: should assert that the tag values are all strings
+
+        self.guages[values] = v
+
+    def render(self):
+        return flatten(
+            self._render_for_labels(k, self.guages[k])
+            for k in sorted(self.guages.keys())
+        )
+
+
 class CallbackMetric(BaseMetric):
     """A metric that returns the numeric value returned by a callback whenever
     it is rendered. Typically this is used to implement gauges that yield the