diff --git a/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/__tests__/get_fields.js b/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/__tests__/get_fields.js
index 1877764f83b9e..0f147e65e4c0e 100644
--- a/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/__tests__/get_fields.js
+++ b/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/__tests__/get_fields.js
@@ -21,62 +21,41 @@ describe('getFields', () => {
   describe('handleResponse', () => {
     it('returns a valid response', () => {
       const resp = {
-        'foo': {
-          'mappings': {
-            'bar': {
-              '@timestamp': {
-                'full_name': '@timestamp',
-                'mapping': {
-                  '@timestamp': {
-                    'type': 'date'
-                  }
-                }
-              }
+        fields: {
+          '@timestamp': {
+            'date': {
+              'type': 'date',
+              'searchable': true,
+              'aggregatable': true
             }
-          }
-        },
-        'twitter': {
-          'mappings': {
-            'tweet': {
-              'message': {
-                'full_name': 'message',
-                'mapping': {
-                  'message': {
-                    'type': 'text',
-                    'fields': {
-                      'keyword': {
-                        'type': 'keyword',
-                        'ignore_above': 256
-                      }
-                    }
-                  }
-                }
-              },
-              '@timestamp': {
-                'full_name': '@timestamp',
-                'mapping': {
-                  '@timestamp': {
-                    'type': 'date'
-                  }
-                }
-              },
-              'id.keyword': {
-                'full_name': 'id.keyword',
-                'mapping': {
-                  'keyword': {
-                    'type': 'keyword',
-                    'ignore_above': 256
-                  }
-                }
-              }
+          },
+          'id.keyword': {
+            'keyword': {
+              'type': 'keyword',
+              'searchable': true,
+              'aggregatable': true
+            }
+          },
+          'message': {
+            'text': {
+              'type': 'text',
+              'searchable': true,
+              'aggregatable': false
+            }
+          },
+          'beat.hostname': {
+            'keyword': {
+              'type': 'keyword',
+              'searchable': true,
+              'aggregatable': true
             }
           }
         }
       };
       expect(handleResponse(resp)).to.eql([
-        { name: '@timestamp', type: 'date' },
-        { name: 'id.keyword', type: 'keyword' },
-        { name: 'message', type: 'text' }
+        { name: '@timestamp', type: 'date', aggregatable: true },
+        { name: 'id.keyword', type: 'keyword', aggregatable: true },
+        { name: 'beat.hostname', type: 'keyword', aggregatable: true }
       ]);
     });
   });
diff --git a/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/get_fields.js b/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/get_fields.js
index 0c308e7537120..db1beeb6dbf2e 100644
--- a/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/get_fields.js
+++ b/src/core_plugins/metrics/server/lib/get_fields.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import _ from 'lodash';
+import { sortBy, uniq } from 'lodash';
 
 export function getParams(req) {
   const index = req.query.index || '*';
@@ -7,33 +7,25 @@ export function getParams(req) {
     fields: ['*'],
     ignoreUnavailable: false,
     allowNoIndices: false,
-    includeDefaults: true
   };
 }
 
 export function handleResponse(resp) {
-  return _.reduce(resp, (acc, index) => {
-    _.each(index.mappings, (type) => {
-      _.each(type, (field, fullName) => {
-        const name = _.last(fullName.split(/\./));
-        const enabled = _.get(field, `mapping.${name}.enabled`, true);
-        const fieldType = _.get(field, `mapping.${name}.type`);
-        if (enabled && fieldType) {
-          acc.push({
-            name: _.get(field, 'full_name', fullName),
-            type: fieldType
-          });
-        }
-      });
-    });
-    return _(acc).sortBy('name').uniq(row => row.name).value();
-  }, []);
+  const fields = Object.keys(resp.fields)
+    .map(name => {
+      const def = resp.fields[name];
+      const type = Object.keys(def)[0];
+      const { aggregatable } = def[type];
+      return { name, type, aggregatable };
+    })
+    .filter(field => field.aggregatable);
+  return uniq(sortBy(fields));
 }
 
 function getFields(req) {
   const { callWithRequest } = req.server.plugins.elasticsearch.getCluster('data');
   const params = getParams(req);
-  return callWithRequest(req, 'indices.getFieldMapping', params).then(handleResponse);
+  return callWithRequest(req, 'fieldCaps', params).then(handleResponse);
 }
 
 export default getFields;