diff --git a/components/server/src/prometheus-metrics.ts b/components/server/src/prometheus-metrics.ts
index 756fc6e0e54076..c8d13d5fe62f58 100644
--- a/components/server/src/prometheus-metrics.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/prometheus-metrics.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ export function registerServerMetrics(registry: prometheusClient.Registry) {
     registry.registerMetric(instanceStartsFailedTotal);
     registry.registerMetric(prebuildsStartedTotal);
     registry.registerMetric(stripeClientRequestsCompletedDurationSeconds);
+    registry.registerMetric(imageBuildsStartedTotal);
 }
 
 const loginCounter = new prometheusClient.Counter({
@@ -176,3 +177,12 @@ export const stripeClientRequestsCompletedDurationSeconds = new prometheusClient
 export function observeStripeClientRequestsCompleted(operation: string, outcome: string, durationInSeconds: number) {
     stripeClientRequestsCompletedDurationSeconds.observe({ operation, outcome }, durationInSeconds);
 }
+
+export const imageBuildsStartedTotal = new prometheusClient.Counter({
+    name: "gitpod_server_image_builds_started_total",
+    help: "counter of the total number of image builds started on server",
+});
+
+export function increaseImageBuildsStartedTotal() {
+    imageBuildsStartedTotal.inc();
+}
diff --git a/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-starter.ts b/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-starter.ts
index fe058aab3f09a5..bcd6152bcb8eed 100644
--- a/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-starter.ts
+++ b/components/server/src/workspace/workspace-starter.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ import { ExtendedUser } from "@gitpod/ws-manager/lib/constraints";
 import {
     FailedInstanceStartReason,
     increaseFailedInstanceStartCounter,
+    increaseImageBuildsStartedTotal,
     increaseSuccessfulInstanceStartCounter,
 } from "../prometheus-metrics";
 import { ContextParser } from "./context-parser-service";
@@ -1205,6 +1206,7 @@ export class WorkspaceStarter {
         const span = TraceContext.startSpan("buildWorkspaceImage", ctx);
 
         try {
+            increaseImageBuildsStartedTotal();
             // Start build...
             const client = await this.getImageBuilderClient(user, workspace, instance);
             const { src, auth, disposable } = await this.prepareBuildRequest(