diff --git a/cmd/veneur/main.go b/cmd/veneur/main.go
index af7b82c9b..936104db6 100644
--- a/cmd/veneur/main.go
+++ b/cmd/veneur/main.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 
+	"github.com/DataDog/datadog-go/statsd"
 	"github.com/getsentry/sentry-go"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/stripe/veneur/v14"
@@ -81,6 +82,20 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}
 
+	stats, err := statsd.New(
+		config.StatsAddress,
+		statsd.WithAggregationInterval(config.Interval),
+		statsd.WithChannelMode(),
+		statsd.WithChannelModeBufferSize(4096),
+		statsd.WithClientSideAggregation(),
+		statsd.WithMaxMessagesPerPayload(4096),
+		statsd.WithNamespace("veneur."),
+		statsd.WithoutTelemetry(),
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.WithError(err).Fatal("failed to create statsd client")
+	}
+
 	server, err := veneur.NewFromConfig(veneur.ServerConfig{
 		Config: *config,
 		Logger: logger,
@@ -167,6 +182,7 @@ func main() {
 				w.Write([]byte("hello world!\n"))
 			},
 		},
+		Statsd: stats,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.WithError(err).Fatal("Could not initialize server")
diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index 328fcac36..759284e3c 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ type ServerConfig struct {
 	SourceTypes        SourceTypes
 	SpanSinkTypes      SpanSinkTypes
 	HttpCustomHandlers HttpCustomHandlers
+	Statsd             *statsd.Client
 }
 
 // A Server is the actual veneur instance that will be run.
@@ -507,20 +508,14 @@ func NewFromConfig(config ServerConfig) (*Server, error) {
 	}
 	ret.HistogramAggregates.Count = len(conf.Aggregates)
 
-	stats, err := statsd.New(conf.StatsAddress, statsd.WithoutTelemetry(), statsd.WithMaxMessagesPerPayload(4096))
-	if err != nil {
-		return ret, err
-	}
-	stats.Namespace = "veneur."
-
 	scopes, err := scopesFromConfig(conf)
 	if err != nil {
 		return ret, err
 	}
-	ret.Statsd = scopedstatsd.NewClient(stats, conf.VeneurMetricsAdditionalTags, scopes)
+	ret.Statsd = scopedstatsd.NewClient(config.Statsd, conf.VeneurMetricsAdditionalTags, scopes)
 
 	ret.TraceClient, err = trace.NewChannelClient(ret.SpanChan,
-		trace.ReportStatistics(stats, 1*time.Second, []string{"ssf_format:internal"}),
+		trace.ReportStatistics(config.Statsd, 1*time.Second, []string{"ssf_format:internal"}),
 		normalizeSpans(conf),
 	)
 	if err != nil {