diff --git a/docs/docs/flink-writes.md b/docs/docs/flink-writes.md
index 09fa22b640c7..c904635d0dbb 100644
--- a/docs/docs/flink-writes.md
+++ b/docs/docs/flink-writes.md
@@ -207,6 +207,10 @@ They should have the following key-value tags.
 | dataFilesSizeHistogram    | Histogram  | Histogram distribution of data file sizes (in bytes).                                               |
 | deleteFilesSizeHistogram  | Histogram  | Histogram distribution of delete file sizes (in bytes).                                             |
 
+The `Histogram` metrics above require `flink-metrics-dropwizard` on the classpath, which is not shipped
+by Flink by default. When using `iceberg-flink-runtime`, this dependency is already bundled. When using
+the `iceberg-flink` artifact directly, add `org.apache.flink:flink-metrics-dropwizard` as a dependency.
+
 Committer metrics are added under the sub group of `IcebergFilesCommitter`.
 They should have the following key-value tags.
 
diff --git a/flink/v2.1/build.gradle b/flink/v2.1/build.gradle
index 53f87f27aa67..6dc373e6b566 100644
--- a/flink/v2.1/build.gradle
+++ b/flink/v2.1/build.gradle
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ project(":iceberg-flink:iceberg-flink-${flinkMajorVersion}") {
     implementation project(':iceberg-hive-metastore')
 
     compileOnly libs.flink21.avro
-    // for dropwizard histogram metrics implementation
+    // dropwizard histogram metrics (optional in Flink)
     compileOnly libs.flink21.metrics.dropwizard
     compileOnly libs.flink21.streaming.java
     compileOnly "${libs.flink21.streaming.java.get().module}:${libs.flink21.streaming.java.get().getVersion()}:tests"
@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@ project(":iceberg-flink:iceberg-flink-runtime-${flinkMajorVersion}") {
       exclude group: 'com.google.code.findbugs', module: 'jsr305'
     }
 
+    // To support dropwizard histogram metrics (not shipped by Flink by default)
+    implementation libs.flink21.metrics.dropwizard
+
     // for integration testing with the flink-runtime-jar
     // all of those dependencies are required because the integration test extends FlinkTestBase
     integrationCompileOnly project(':iceberg-api')
diff --git a/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/LICENSE b/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/LICENSE
index 36a03cb4fcf9..e8c4c4a0bdf7 100644
--- a/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/LICENSE
+++ b/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/LICENSE
@@ -556,7 +556,7 @@ License: Apache License, Version 2.0 - https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-This product bundles Codahale Metrics.
+This product bundles Dropwizard Metrics.
 
 Copyright: (c) 2010-2013 Coda Hale, Yammer.com, 2014-2021 Dropwizard Team
 Project URL: https://github.com/dropwizard/metrics
@@ -564,6 +564,14 @@ License: Apache License, Version 2.0 - https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+This product bundles Apache Flink's optional support for Dropwizard Metrics.
+
+Copyright: 2014-2026 The Apache Software Foundation
+Project URL: https://flink.apache.org/
+License: Apache License, Version 2.0 - https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 This product bundles RoaringBitmap.
 
 Copyright: (c) 2013-... the RoaringBitmap authors
diff --git a/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/runtime-deps.txt b/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/runtime-deps.txt
index 00c53ed388d0..3dfc56f15ea9 100644
--- a/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/runtime-deps.txt
+++ b/flink/v2.1/flink-runtime/runtime-deps.txt
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@ com.github.luben:zstd-jni:1.5.7-3
 com.google.errorprone:error_prone_annotations:2.10.0
 dev.failsafe:failsafe:3.3.2
 io.airlift:aircompressor:2.0.3
+io.dropwizard.metrics:metrics-core:3.2.6
 org.apache.avro:avro:1.12.1
 org.apache.datasketches:datasketches-java:6.2.0
 org.apache.datasketches:datasketches-memory:3.0.2
+org.apache.flink:flink-metrics-dropwizard:2.1.0
 org.apache.httpcomponents.client5:httpclient5:5.6
 org.apache.httpcomponents.core5:httpcore5-h2:5.4
 org.apache.httpcomponents.core5:httpcore5:5.4