diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/cache.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/cache.go
index e5b4c060883..d016692bf74 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/cache.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/cache.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/influxdb"
 )
@@ -63,8 +64,17 @@ func (e *entry) deduplicate() {
 
 // Statistics gathered by the Cache.
 const (
-	statCacheMemoryBytes = "memBytes"  // Size of in-memory cache in bytes
-	statCacheDiskBytes   = "diskBytes" // Size of on-disk snapshots in bytes
+	// levels - point in time measures
+
+	statCacheMemoryBytes = "memBytes"      // level: Size of in-memory cache in bytes
+	statCacheDiskBytes   = "diskBytes"     // level: Size of on-disk snapshots in bytes
+	statSnapshots        = "snapshotCount" // level: Number of active snapshots.
+	statCacheAgeMs       = "cacheAgeMs"    // level: Number of milliseconds since cache was last snapshoted at sample time
+
+	// counters - accumulative measures
+
+	statCachedBytes         = "cachedBytes"         // counter: Total number of bytes written into snapshots.
+	statWALCompactionTimeMs = "WALCompactionTimeMs" // counter: Total number of milliseconds spent compacting snapshots
 )
 
 // Cache maintains an in-memory store of Values for a set of keys.
@@ -80,7 +90,8 @@ type Cache struct {
 	snapshots     []*Cache
 	snapshotsSize uint64
 
-	statMap *expvar.Map
+	statMap      *expvar.Map
+	lastSnapshot time.Time
 
 	// path is only used to track stats
 	path string
@@ -89,10 +100,11 @@ type Cache struct {
 // NewCache returns an instance of a cache which will use a maximum of maxSize bytes of memory.
 func NewCache(maxSize uint64, path string) *Cache {
 	return &Cache{
-		maxSize: maxSize,
-		store:   make(map[string]*entry),
-		statMap: influxdb.NewStatistics("tsm1_cache:"+path, "tsm1_cache", map[string]string{"path": path}),
-		path:    path,
+		maxSize:      maxSize,
+		store:        make(map[string]*entry),
+		statMap:      influxdb.NewStatistics("tsm1_cache:"+path, "tsm1_cache", map[string]string{"path": path}),
+		path:         path,
+		lastSnapshot: time.Now(),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -163,6 +175,7 @@ func (c *Cache) Snapshot() *Cache {
 
 	c.store = make(map[string]*entry)
 	c.size = 0
+	c.lastSnapshot = time.Now()
 
 	c.snapshots = append(c.snapshots, snapshot)
 	c.snapshotsSize += snapshot.size
@@ -176,6 +189,9 @@ func (c *Cache) Snapshot() *Cache {
 	diskSizeStat.Set(int64(c.snapshotsSize))
 	c.statMap.Set(statCacheDiskBytes, diskSizeStat)
 
+	c.statMap.Add(statCachedBytes, int64(snapshot.size))
+	c.statMap.Add(statSnapshots, 1)
+
 	return snapshot
 }
 
@@ -205,6 +221,8 @@ func (c *Cache) ClearSnapshot(snapshot *Cache) {
 	diskSizeStat := new(expvar.Int)
 	diskSizeStat.Set(int64(c.snapshotsSize))
 	c.statMap.Set(statCacheDiskBytes, diskSizeStat)
+
+	c.statMap.Add(statSnapshots, -1)
 }
 
 // Size returns the number of point-calcuated bytes the cache currently uses.
@@ -421,3 +439,17 @@ func (cl *CacheLoader) Load(cache *Cache) error {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// Updates the age statistic
+func (c *Cache) UpdateAge() {
+	c.mu.RLock()
+	defer c.mu.RUnlock()
+	ageStat := new(expvar.Int)
+	ageStat.Set(int64(time.Now().Sub(c.lastSnapshot) / time.Millisecond))
+	c.statMap.Set(statCacheAgeMs, ageStat)
+}
+
+// Updates WAL compaction time statistic
+func (c *Cache) UpdateCompactTime(d time.Duration) {
+	c.statMap.Add(statWALCompactionTimeMs, int64(d/time.Millisecond))
+}
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
index 67cbd10e192..0c1497de224 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
@@ -389,10 +389,22 @@ func (e *Engine) WriteTo(w io.Writer) (n int64, err error) { panic("not implemen
 func (e *Engine) WriteSnapshot() error {
 	// Lock and grab the cache snapshot along with all the closed WAL
 	// filenames associated with the snapshot
+
+	var started *time.Time
+
+	defer func() {
+		if started != nil {
+			e.Cache.UpdateCompactTime(time.Now().Sub(*started))
+		}
+	}()
+
 	closedFiles, snapshot, compactor, err := func() ([]string, *Cache, *Compactor, error) {
 		e.mu.Lock()
 		defer e.mu.Unlock()
 
+		now := time.Now()
+		started = &now
+
 		if err := e.WAL.CloseSegment(); err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, nil, err
 		}
@@ -456,6 +468,7 @@ func (e *Engine) compactCache() {
 			return
 
 		default:
+			e.Cache.UpdateAge()
 			if e.ShouldCompactCache(e.WAL.LastWriteTime()) {
 				err := e.WriteSnapshot()
 				if err != nil {