diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 640fa6cc0cb..c183fd23298 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Protect ingesters from panics by adding defer/recover to all read path methods. [#3790](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3790) (@joe-elliott)
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Added a boolean flag to enable or disable dualstack mode on Storage block config for S3 [#3721](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3721) (@sid-jar, @mapno)
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Add caching to query range queries [#3796](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3796) (@mapno)
+* [ENHANCEMENT] Only stream diffs on metrics queries [#3808](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3808) (@joe-elliott)
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Add data quality metric to measure traces without a root [#3812](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3812) (@mapno)
 * [BUGFIX] Fix metrics queries when grouping by attributes that may not exist [#3734](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3734) (@mdisibio)
 * [BUGFIX] Fix frontend parsing error on cached responses [#3759](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3759) (@mdisibio)
diff --git a/cmd/tempo-cli/cmd-query-metrics-query-range.go b/cmd/tempo-cli/cmd-query-metrics-query-range.go
index 02de9a32054..ad2d6ddac7f 100644
--- a/cmd/tempo-cli/cmd-query-metrics-query-range.go
+++ b/cmd/tempo-cli/cmd-query-metrics-query-range.go
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@ func (cmd *metricsQueryRangeCmd) Run(_ *globalOptions) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	start := startDate.Unix()
+	start := startDate.UnixNano()
 
 	endDate, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, cmd.End)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	end := endDate.Unix()
+	end := endDate.UnixNano()
 
 	req := &tempopb.QueryRangeRequest{
 		Query: cmd.TraceQL,
diff --git a/modules/frontend/combiner/metrics_query_range.go b/modules/frontend/combiner/metrics_query_range.go
index 81cf18649a8..caa89bcf63a 100644
--- a/modules/frontend/combiner/metrics_query_range.go
+++ b/modules/frontend/combiner/metrics_query_range.go
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ import (
 var _ GRPCCombiner[*tempopb.QueryRangeResponse] = (*genericCombiner[*tempopb.QueryRangeResponse])(nil)
 
 // NewQueryRange returns a query range combiner.
-func NewQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) (Combiner, error) {
-	combiner, err := traceql.QueryRangeCombinerFor(req, traceql.AggregateModeFinal)
+func NewQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest, trackDiffs bool) (Combiner, error) {
+	combiner, err := traceql.QueryRangeCombinerFor(req, traceql.AggregateModeFinal, trackDiffs)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -59,9 +59,8 @@ func NewQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) (Combiner, error) {
 			sortResponse(resp)
 			return resp, nil
 		},
-		// todo: the diff method still returns the full response every time. find a way to diff
 		diff: func(_ *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse) (*tempopb.QueryRangeResponse, error) {
-			resp := combiner.Response()
+			resp := combiner.Diff()
 			if resp == nil {
 				resp = &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{}
 			}
@@ -71,8 +70,8 @@ func NewQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) (Combiner, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func NewTypedQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) (GRPCCombiner[*tempopb.QueryRangeResponse], error) {
-	c, err := NewQueryRange(req)
+func NewTypedQueryRange(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest, trackDiffs bool) (GRPCCombiner[*tempopb.QueryRangeResponse], error) {
+	c, err := NewQueryRange(req, trackDiffs)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/modules/frontend/metrics_query_range_handler.go b/modules/frontend/metrics_query_range_handler.go
index 57ba0754b0b..ce42b51f0af 100644
--- a/modules/frontend/metrics_query_range_handler.go
+++ b/modules/frontend/metrics_query_range_handler.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func newQueryRangeStreamingGRPCHandler(cfg Config, next pipeline.AsyncRoundTripp
 		start := time.Now()
 
 		var finalResponse *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse
-		c, err := combiner.NewTypedQueryRange(req)
+		c, err := combiner.NewTypedQueryRange(req, true)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func newMetricsQueryRangeHTTPHandler(cfg Config, next pipeline.AsyncRoundTripper
 		logQueryRangeRequest(logger, tenant, queryRangeReq)
 
 		// build and use roundtripper
-		combiner, err := combiner.NewTypedQueryRange(queryRangeReq)
+		combiner, err := combiner.NewTypedQueryRange(queryRangeReq, false)
 		if err != nil {
 			level.Error(logger).Log("msg", "query range: query range combiner failed", "err", err)
 			return &http.Response{
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ func logQueryRangeRequest(logger log.Logger, tenantID string, req *tempopb.Query
 		"msg", "query range request",
 		"tenant", tenantID,
 		"query", req.Query,
-		"range_seconds", req.End-req.Start,
+		"range_nanos", req.End-req.Start,
 		"mode", req.QueryMode,
 		"step", req.Step)
 }
diff --git a/modules/querier/querier_query_range.go b/modules/querier/querier_query_range.go
index cd1b21e3535..a8672335078 100644
--- a/modules/querier/querier_query_range.go
+++ b/modules/querier/querier_query_range.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func (q *Querier) queryRangeRecent(ctx context.Context, req *tempopb.QueryRangeR
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error querying generators in Querier.MetricsQueryRange: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	c, err := traceql.QueryRangeCombinerFor(req, traceql.AggregateModeSum)
+	c, err := traceql.QueryRangeCombinerFor(req, traceql.AggregateModeSum, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/traceql/combine.go b/pkg/traceql/combine.go
index 7fbe772a168..3638a852db0 100644
--- a/pkg/traceql/combine.go
+++ b/pkg/traceql/combine.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package traceql
 import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/tempo/pkg/tempopb"
 )
@@ -141,22 +142,37 @@ func spansetID(ss *tempopb.SpanSet) string {
 	return id
 }
 
+type tsRange struct {
+	minTS, maxTS int64
+}
+
 type QueryRangeCombiner struct {
 	req     *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest
 	eval    *MetricsFrontendEvaluator
 	metrics *tempopb.SearchMetrics
+
+	// used to track which series were updated since the previous diff
+	// todo: it may not be worth it to track the diffs per series. it would be simpler (and possibly nearly as effective) to just calculate a global
+	//  max/min for all series
+	seriesUpdated map[string]tsRange
 }
 
-func QueryRangeCombinerFor(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest, mode AggregateMode) (*QueryRangeCombiner, error) {
+func QueryRangeCombinerFor(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest, mode AggregateMode, trackDiffs bool) (*QueryRangeCombiner, error) {
 	eval, err := NewEngine().CompileMetricsQueryRangeNonRaw(req, mode)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	var seriesUpdated map[string]tsRange
+	if trackDiffs {
+		seriesUpdated = map[string]tsRange{}
+	}
+
 	return &QueryRangeCombiner{
-		req:     req,
-		eval:    eval,
-		metrics: &tempopb.SearchMetrics{},
+		req:           req,
+		eval:          eval,
+		metrics:       &tempopb.SearchMetrics{},
+		seriesUpdated: seriesUpdated,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -165,6 +181,9 @@ func (q *QueryRangeCombiner) Combine(resp *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// mark min/max for all series
+	q.markUpdatedRanges(resp)
+
 	// Here is where the job results are reentered into the pipeline
 	q.eval.ObserveSeries(resp.Series)
 
@@ -185,3 +204,61 @@ func (q *QueryRangeCombiner) Response() *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse {
 		Metrics: q.metrics,
 	}
 }
+
+func (q *QueryRangeCombiner) Diff() *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse {
+	if q.seriesUpdated == nil {
+		return q.Response()
+	}
+
+	seriesRangeFn := func(promLabels string) (uint64, uint64, bool) {
+		tsr, ok := q.seriesUpdated[promLabels]
+		return uint64(tsr.minTS), uint64(tsr.maxTS), ok
+	}
+
+	// filter out series that haven't change
+	resp := &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+		Series:  q.eval.Results().ToProtoDiff(q.req, seriesRangeFn),
+		Metrics: q.metrics,
+	}
+
+	// wipe out the diff for the next call
+	clear(q.seriesUpdated)
+
+	return resp
+}
+
+func (q *QueryRangeCombiner) markUpdatedRanges(resp *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse) {
+	if q.seriesUpdated == nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// mark all ranges that changed
+	for _, series := range resp.Series {
+		if len(series.Samples) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		nanoMin := series.Samples[0].TimestampMs * int64(time.Millisecond)
+		nanoMax := series.Samples[len(series.Samples)-1].TimestampMs * int64(time.Millisecond)
+
+		tsr, ok := q.seriesUpdated[series.PromLabels]
+		if !ok {
+			q.seriesUpdated[series.PromLabels] = tsRange{minTS: nanoMin, maxTS: nanoMax}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		var updated bool
+		if nanoMin < tsr.minTS {
+			updated = true
+			tsr.minTS = nanoMin
+		}
+		if nanoMax > tsr.maxTS {
+			updated = true
+			tsr.maxTS = nanoMax
+		}
+
+		if updated {
+			q.seriesUpdated[series.PromLabels] = tsr
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/traceql/combine_test.go b/pkg/traceql/combine_test.go
index 3adbe5955fa..a5503786024 100644
--- a/pkg/traceql/combine_test.go
+++ b/pkg/traceql/combine_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 package traceql
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/tempo/pkg/tempopb"
 	v1 "github.com/grafana/tempo/pkg/tempopb/common/v1"
@@ -263,3 +267,156 @@ func TestCombineResults(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// nolint:govet
+func TestQueryRangeCombinerDiffs(t *testing.T) {
+	start := uint64(100 * time.Millisecond)
+	end := uint64(150 * time.Millisecond)
+	step := uint64(10 * time.Millisecond)
+
+	tcs := []struct {
+		resp, expectedResponse, expectedDiff *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse
+	}{
+		// push nothing get nothing
+		{
+			resp: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{},
+			expectedResponse: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{},
+			},
+		},
+		// push 3 data points, get them back
+		{
+			resp: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedResponse: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}, {130, 0}, {140, 0}, {150, 0}}),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedDiff: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		// push 2 data points, check aggregation
+		{
+			resp: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{120, 1}, {130, 2}, {150, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedResponse: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 4}, {130, 2}, {140, 0}, {150, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		// push different series
+		{
+			resp: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("bar", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedResponse: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 4}, {130, 2}, {140, 0}, {150, 3}}),
+					timeSeries("bar", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}, {130, 0}, {140, 0}, {150, 0}}),
+				},
+			},
+			// includes last 2 pushes
+			expectedDiff: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{120, 4}, {130, 2}, {140, 0}, {150, 3}}),
+					timeSeries("bar", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		// push different series by label value
+		{
+			resp: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "2", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedResponse: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 4}, {130, 2}, {140, 0}, {150, 3}}),
+					timeSeries("bar", "1", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}, {130, 0}, {140, 0}, {150, 0}}),
+					timeSeries("foo", "2", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}, {130, 0}, {140, 0}, {150, 0}}),
+				},
+			},
+			// includes last 2 pushes
+			expectedDiff: &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+				Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{
+					timeSeries("foo", "2", []tempopb.Sample{{100, 1}, {110, 2}, {120, 3}}),
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	req := &tempopb.QueryRangeRequest{
+		Start: start,
+		End:   end,
+		Step:  step,
+		Query: "{} | rate()", // simple aggregate
+	}
+	combiner, err := QueryRangeCombinerFor(req, AggregateModeFinal, true)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	for i, tc := range tcs {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("step %d", i), func(t *testing.T) {
+			combiner.Combine(tc.resp)
+
+			resp := combiner.Response()
+			resp.Metrics = nil // we want to ignore metrics for this test, just nil them out
+			metricsEqual(t, tc.expectedResponse, resp)
+
+			if tc.expectedDiff != nil {
+				// call diff and get expected
+				diff := combiner.Diff()
+				diff.Metrics = nil
+				metricsEqual(t, tc.expectedDiff, diff)
+
+				// call diff again and get nothing!
+				diff = combiner.Diff()
+				diff.Metrics = nil
+				require.Equal(t, &tempopb.QueryRangeResponse{
+					Series: []*tempopb.TimeSeries{},
+				}, diff)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func metricsEqual(t *testing.T, a, b *tempopb.QueryRangeResponse) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	slices.SortFunc(a.Series, func(a, b *tempopb.TimeSeries) int {
+		return strings.Compare(a.PromLabels, b.PromLabels)
+	})
+	slices.SortFunc(b.Series, func(a, b *tempopb.TimeSeries) int {
+		return strings.Compare(a.PromLabels, b.PromLabels)
+	})
+
+	require.Equal(t, a, b)
+}
+
+func timeSeries(name, val string, samples []tempopb.Sample) *tempopb.TimeSeries {
+	lbls := Labels{
+		{
+			Name:  name,
+			Value: NewStaticString(val),
+		},
+	}
+
+	return &tempopb.TimeSeries{
+		Labels:     []v1.KeyValue{{Key: name, Value: &v1.AnyValue{Value: &v1.AnyValue_StringValue{StringValue: val}}}},
+		Samples:    samples,
+		PromLabels: lbls.String(),
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/traceql/engine_metrics.go b/pkg/traceql/engine_metrics.go
index f5d9306cd8e..62a21c55b90 100644
--- a/pkg/traceql/engine_metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/traceql/engine_metrics.go
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ type TimeSeries struct {
 type SeriesSet map[string]TimeSeries
 
 func (set SeriesSet) ToProto(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) []*tempopb.TimeSeries {
+	return set.ToProtoDiff(req, nil)
+}
+
+func (set SeriesSet) ToProtoDiff(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest, rangeForLabels func(string) (uint64, uint64, bool)) []*tempopb.TimeSeries {
 	resp := make([]*tempopb.TimeSeries, 0, len(set))
 
 	for promLabels, s := range set {
@@ -138,10 +142,27 @@ func (set SeriesSet) ToProto(req *tempopb.QueryRangeRequest) []*tempopb.TimeSeri
 			)
 		}
 
-		intervals := IntervalCount(req.Start, req.End, req.Step)
+		start, end := req.Start, req.End
+		include := true
+		if rangeForLabels != nil {
+			start, end, include = rangeForLabels(promLabels)
+		}
+
+		if !include {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		intervals := IntervalCount(start, end, req.Step)
 		samples := make([]tempopb.Sample, 0, intervals)
 		for i, value := range s.Values {
 			ts := TimestampOf(uint64(i), req.Start, req.Step)
+
+			// todo: this loop should be able to be restructured to directly pass over
+			// the desired intervals
+			if ts < start || ts > end {
+				continue
+			}
+
 			samples = append(samples, tempopb.Sample{
 				TimestampMs: time.Unix(0, int64(ts)).UnixMilli(),
 				Value:       value,