diff --git a/collector/collector.go b/collector/collector.go
index 5890d79d..989f4ecf 100644
--- a/collector/collector.go
+++ b/collector/collector.go
@@ -386,7 +386,25 @@ func (p *PostgresCollector) Close() error {
 
 func execute(ctx context.Context, name string, c Collector, instance *instance, ch chan<- prometheus.Metric, logger *slog.Logger, includeDatname bool) {
 	begin := time.Now()
-	err := c.Update(ctx, instance, ch)
+	// Buffer the collector's metrics so that nothing is exposed if Update fails
+	// part way through, e.g. after some rows were already processed.
+	buf := make(chan prometheus.Metric)
+	collected := make(chan []prometheus.Metric)
+	go func() {
+		var metrics []prometheus.Metric
+		for m := range buf {
+			metrics = append(metrics, m)
+		}
+		collected <- metrics
+	}()
+	err := c.Update(ctx, instance, buf)
+	close(buf)
+	metrics := <-collected
+	if err == nil {
+		for _, m := range metrics {
+			ch <- m
+		}
+	}
 	duration := time.Since(begin)
 	var success float64
 
diff --git a/collector/collector_test.go b/collector/collector_test.go
index eafd5d57..22d245ae 100644
--- a/collector/collector_test.go
+++ b/collector/collector_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ package collector
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
@@ -326,3 +327,50 @@ func TestNewPGStatStatementsCollectorUsesConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("excludedUsers[0] = %q, want monitor", got.excludedUsers[0])
 	}
 }
+
+type fakeCollector struct {
+	err error
+}
+
+func (f fakeCollector) Update(ctx context.Context, inst *instance, ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
+	ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
+		prometheus.NewDesc("fake_metric", "help", nil, nil), prometheus.GaugeValue, 1)
+	return f.err
+}
+
+func TestExecuteDropsMetricsOnError(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		err  error
+		want []string
+	}{
+		{"success", nil, []string{"fake_metric", "pg_scrape_collector_duration_seconds", "pg_scrape_collector_success"}},
+		{"error", errors.New("boom"), []string{"pg_scrape_collector_duration_seconds", "pg_scrape_collector_success"}},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			ch := make(chan prometheus.Metric, 10)
+			execute(context.Background(), "fake", fakeCollector{err: tt.err}, nil, ch, promslog.NewNopLogger(), false)
+			close(ch)
+			var got []string
+			success := -1.0
+			for m := range ch {
+				name := m.Desc().String()
+				for _, w := range []string{"pg_scrape_collector_duration_seconds", "pg_scrape_collector_success", "fake_metric"} {
+					if strings.Contains(name, `"`+w+`"`) {
+						got = append(got, w)
+						if w == "pg_scrape_collector_success" {
+							success = readMetric(m).value
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			if strings.Join(got, ",") != strings.Join(tt.want, ",") {
+				t.Fatalf("got metrics %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+			if (tt.err == nil) != (success == 1) {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected success value %v", success)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}