diff --git a/docs/en/observability/index.asciidoc b/docs/en/observability/index.asciidoc
index 9a4f12094c..960df87014 100644
--- a/docs/en/observability/index.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/en/observability/index.asciidoc
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ include::inspect-uptime-duration-anomalies.asciidoc[leveloffset=+3]
 
 include::configure-uptime-settings.asciidoc[leveloffset=+2]
 
+include::synthetics-manage-retention.asciidoc[leveloffset=+2]
+
 include::troubleshoot-uptime-mapping-issues.asciidoc[leveloffset=+2]
 
 // User experience
diff --git a/docs/en/observability/synthetics-manage-retention.asciidoc b/docs/en/observability/synthetics-manage-retention.asciidoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..200c137906
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/en/observability/synthetics-manage-retention.asciidoc
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[[synthetics-manage-retention]]
+= Manage data retention
+
+When you set up a synthetic monitor, data from the monitor is saved in
+https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/data-streams.html[{es} data streams],
+an append-only structure in {es}.
+
+There are six data streams recorded by synthetic monitors: `http`, `tcp`, `icmp`, `browser`, `browser.network`, `browser.screenshot`.
+Elastic will retain data from each data stream for some time period,
+and the default time period varies by data stream.
+If you want to reduce the amount of storage required or store data for longer,
+you can customize how long to retain data for each data stream.
+
+[discrete]
+[[synthetics-manage-retention-data-streams]]
+== Synthetics data streams
+
+There are six data streams recorded by synthetic monitors:
+
+[options="header"]
+|===
+| Data stream | Data includes | Default retention period |
+| `http` | The URL that was checked, the status of the check, and any errors that occurred | 1 year |
+| `tcp` | The URL that was checked, the status of the check, and any errors that occurred | 1 year |
+| `icmp` | The URL that was checked, the status of the check, and any errors that occurred | 1 year |
+| `browser` | The URL that was checked, the status of the check, and any errors that occurred | 1 year |
+| `browser.screenshot` | Binary image data used to construct a screenshot and metadata with information related to de-duplicating this data | 14 days |
+| `browser.network` | Detailed metadata around requests for resources required by the pages being checked | 14 days |
+|===
+
+All types of checks record core metadata.
+Browser-based checks store two additional types of data: network and screenshot documents.
+These browser-specific indices are usually many times larger than the core metadata.
+The relative sizes of each vary depending on the sites being 
+checked with network data usually being the larger of the two by a significant factor.
+
+[discrete]
+[[synthetics-manage-retention-customize]]
+== Customize data stream lifecycles 
+
+If Synthetics browser data streams are storing data longer than necessary,
+you can opt to retain data for a shorter period.
+
+To find Synthetics data streams:
+
+. Navigate to https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/index-mgmt.html[{kib} index management].
+. Filter the list of data streams for those containing the term `synthetics`.
+.. In the UI there will be three types of browser data streams: `synthetics-browser-*`, `synthetics-browser.network-*`, and `synthetics-browser.screenshot-*`.
+
+Then, you can refer to https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/current/data-streams.html#data-streams-ilm-tutorial[Tutorial: Customize data retention for integrations] to learn how to apply a custom {ilm-init} policy to the browser data streams.