diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index c6b4b4e6e4f3..3f03453c7f2a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ Setting environmental variable ELASTIC_NETINFO:false in Elastic Agent pod will d
 - Update CEL extensions library to v1.7.0. {pull}37172[37172]
 - Add support for complete URL replacement in HTTPJSON chain steps. {pull}37486[37486]
 - Add support for user-defined query selection in EntraID entity analytics provider. {pull}37653[37653]
+- Relax TCP/UDP metric polling expectations to improve metric collection. {pull}37714[37714]
 
 *Auditbeat*
 
diff --git a/filebeat/input/tcp/input.go b/filebeat/input/tcp/input.go
index 762c6b6ba355..0e2990c8f1d5 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/tcp/input.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/tcp/input.go
@@ -238,31 +238,50 @@ func (m *inputMetrics) poll(addr, addr6 []string, each time.Duration, log *logp.
 	// base level for the rx_queue values and ensures that if the
 	// constructed address values are malformed we panic early
 	// within the period of system testing.
+	want4 := true
 	rx, err := procNetTCP("/proc/net/tcp", addr, hasUnspecified, addrIsUnspecified)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Warnf("failed to get initial tcp stats from /proc: %v", err)
+		want4 = false
+		log.Infof("did not get initial tcp stats from /proc: %v", err)
 	}
+	want6 := true
 	rx6, err := procNetTCP("/proc/net/tcp6", addr6, hasUnspecified6, addrIsUnspecified6)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Warnf("failed to get initial tcp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+		want6 = false
+		log.Infof("did not get initial tcp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !want4 && !want6 {
+		log.Warnf("failed to get initial tcp or tcp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
 	}
-	m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
 
 	t := time.NewTicker(each)
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-t.C:
+			var found bool
 			rx, err := procNetTCP("/proc/net/tcp", addr, hasUnspecified, addrIsUnspecified)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Warnf("failed to get tcp stats from /proc: %v", err)
-				continue
+				if want4 {
+					log.Warnf("failed to get tcp stats from /proc: %v", err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				found = true
+				want4 = true
 			}
 			rx6, err := procNetTCP("/proc/net/tcp6", addr6, hasUnspecified6, addrIsUnspecified6)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Warnf("failed to get tcp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
-				continue
+				if want6 {
+					log.Warnf("failed to get tcp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				found = true
+				want6 = true
+			}
+			if found {
+				m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
 			}
-			m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
 		case <-m.done:
 			t.Stop()
 			return
diff --git a/filebeat/input/udp/input.go b/filebeat/input/udp/input.go
index 831fb41c2ee6..e7e2092a3db8 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/udp/input.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/udp/input.go
@@ -231,33 +231,52 @@ func (m *inputMetrics) poll(addr, addr6 []string, each time.Duration, log *logp.
 	// base level for the rx_queue and drops values and ensures that
 	// if the constructed address values are malformed we panic early
 	// within the period of system testing.
+	want4 := true
 	rx, drops, err := procNetUDP("/proc/net/udp", addr, hasUnspecified, addrIsUnspecified)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Warnf("failed to get initial udp stats from /proc: %v", err)
+		want4 = false
+		log.Infof("did not get initial udp stats from /proc: %v", err)
 	}
+	want6 := true
 	rx6, drops6, err := procNetUDP("/proc/net/udp6", addr6, hasUnspecified6, addrIsUnspecified6)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Warnf("failed to get initial udp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+		want6 = false
+		log.Infof("did not get initial udp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !want4 && !want6 {
+		log.Warnf("failed to get initial udp or udp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+	} else {
+		m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
+		m.drops.Set(uint64(drops + drops6))
 	}
-	m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
-	m.drops.Set(uint64(drops + drops6))
 
 	t := time.NewTicker(each)
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-t.C:
+			var found bool
 			rx, drops, err := procNetUDP("/proc/net/udp", addr, hasUnspecified, addrIsUnspecified)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Warnf("failed to get udp stats from /proc: %v", err)
-				continue
+				if want4 {
+					log.Warnf("failed to get udp stats from /proc: %v", err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				found = true
+				want4 = true
 			}
 			rx6, drops6, err := procNetUDP("/proc/net/udp6", addr6, hasUnspecified6, addrIsUnspecified6)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Warnf("failed to get udp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
-				continue
+				if want6 {
+					log.Warnf("failed to get udp6 stats from /proc: %v", err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				found = true
+				want6 = true
+			}
+			if found {
+				m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
+				m.drops.Set(uint64(drops + drops6))
 			}
-			m.rxQueue.Set(uint64(rx + rx6))
-			m.drops.Set(uint64(drops + drops6))
 		case <-m.done:
 			t.Stop()
 			return